You’re Right. You’re Spending More Time Sitting On That Plane.
September 18, 2019Stay in the know with exclusive industry news, click here and subscribe to our eNewsletter today!
One thing about flying from Washington to Los Angeles hasn’t changed: It takes essentially the same amount of time to go from Ronald Reagan National to Los Angeles International now as it did several decades ago. So why have schedules for the flights gotten noticeably longer?
The answer is that as the number of travelers has increased and airlines have added flights to accommodate them, airports have become more congested. As a result, planes spend more time waiting to take off and then, when they land, more time waiting for an open gate at the terminal.
That means passengers are spending more time confined in the cabin.
“Airlines pad their schedules as a defensive move to protect their overall reliability,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel analysis firm in San Francisco.