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A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport

The closure of the European airspace due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 proved a major challenge for airlines and aviation authorities on a global scale. In contrast, more seasonal adverse meteorological conditions afflict many airports in the northern eastern seab...

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Main Author: O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip
Other Authors: Mbogho, Audrey J W
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Computer Science 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip
author2 Mbogho, Audrey J W
author_browse Mbogho, Audrey J W
O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip
author_facet Mbogho, Audrey J W
O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip
author_sort O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip
collection Thesis
description The closure of the European airspace due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 proved a major challenge for airlines and aviation authorities on a global scale. In contrast, more seasonal adverse meteorological conditions afflict many airports in the northern eastern seaboard of the United States. Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) is a representative airport that endures severe weather based delays. This dissertation explores the utilisation of Bayesian Networks (BN) and heuristic analyses to investigate weather based delays at Newark Liberty International airport (KEWR). In particular, it aims to understand which weather variables (namely, precipitation, visibility and wind) have the most impact on weather based delays at KEWR in contrast to past studies that have studied more generic weather phenomena (e.g. thunderstorms) at the same airport. An analysis using temporal functionality with Bayesian Networks (BN) software and heuristic analyses was conducted. Data extracted from weather and aviation based websites was extracted using software. The quality of the information was cross referenced with official data sources and validated using BN tools. The results revealed a causal correlation chain between crosswinds above a certain threshold and high delays at KEWR at various points in the experimentation. Though other meteorological elements examined had an impact on delays, airport authorities and airlines can mitigate these factors to a certain scale using Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approved technology and training. Consequently, the implications could be significant on existing FAA and regional policy with Ground Delay Program (GDP) and Noise Abatement Procedures (NAP). These policies can be profound and far reaching for airlines, in terms of operating procedures and fuel cost implications. These findings can further alter the balance between efficiency, public safety and airline costing affecting all major stakeholders as this dissertation will investigate.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:17.361Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Computer Science
publisherStr Department of Computer Science
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6639 A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip Mbogho, Audrey J W The closure of the European airspace due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 proved a major challenge for airlines and aviation authorities on a global scale. In contrast, more seasonal adverse meteorological conditions afflict many airports in the northern eastern seaboard of the United States. Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) is a representative airport that endures severe weather based delays. This dissertation explores the utilisation of Bayesian Networks (BN) and heuristic analyses to investigate weather based delays at Newark Liberty International airport (KEWR). In particular, it aims to understand which weather variables (namely, precipitation, visibility and wind) have the most impact on weather based delays at KEWR in contrast to past studies that have studied more generic weather phenomena (e.g. thunderstorms) at the same airport. An analysis using temporal functionality with Bayesian Networks (BN) software and heuristic analyses was conducted. Data extracted from weather and aviation based websites was extracted using software. The quality of the information was cross referenced with official data sources and validated using BN tools. The results revealed a causal correlation chain between crosswinds above a certain threshold and high delays at KEWR at various points in the experimentation. Though other meteorological elements examined had an impact on delays, airport authorities and airlines can mitigate these factors to a certain scale using Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approved technology and training. Consequently, the implications could be significant on existing FAA and regional policy with Ground Delay Program (GDP) and Noise Abatement Procedures (NAP). These policies can be profound and far reaching for airlines, in terms of operating procedures and fuel cost implications. These findings can further alter the balance between efficiency, public safety and airline costing affecting all major stakeholders as this dissertation will investigate. 2014-08-20T19:30:35Z 2014-08-20T19:30:35Z 2013 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6639 eng application/pdf Department of Computer Science Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle O'Loghlen, Gerald Philip
A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport
title_full A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport
title_fullStr A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport
title_full_unstemmed A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport
title_short A weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at Newark Liberty International Airport
title_sort weather related causal analysis on consolidated delay at newark liberty international airport
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6639
work_keys_str_mv AT ologhlengeraldphilip aweatherrelatedcausalanalysisonconsolidateddelayatnewarklibertyinternationalairport
AT ologhlengeraldphilip weatherrelatedcausalanalysisonconsolidateddelayatnewarklibertyinternationalairport