Congestion in a competitive world: a study of the impact of competition on airline operations

Air transport is a fast developing area. Airlines compete for a limited resource, namely airport capacity. The consequence is an increase in airport congestion, which generates huge delays that are enhanced due to delay propagation through the whole network. Currently, in the US, the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) only controls operational capacity allocation when disruptions occur with Ground Delay Programs (GDPs), and airlines are free to schedule their operations. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework allowing to evaluate different regulations or incentives.