Effect of Burstiness on the Air Transportation System

TL;DR

This paper investigates how burstiness influences the air transportation system, revealing that it can reduce travel time but also increase delays, with effects diminishing under crowded schedules.

Contribution

It introduces two new indexes of temporal distance based on passenger behavior and analyzes burstiness effects on delays and travel times.

Findings

Burstiness shortens temporal distance in air travel.

Burstiness increases delays in the system.

Overcrowded schedules negate the positive effects of burstiness.

Abstract

The effect of burstiness in complex networks has received considerable attention. In particular, its effect on temporal distance and delays in the air transportation system is significant owing to their huge impact on our society. Therefore, in this paper, we propose two indexes of temporal distance based on passengers' behavior and analyze the effect. As a result, we find that burstiness shortens the temporal distance while delays are increased. Moreover, we discover that the positive effect of burstiness is lost when flight schedules get overcrowded.