Developing Airline Segmentation Based on The On-time Performance

Flight delay is a critical nation wide issue that has negative impacts on both airlines and passengers. However, airlines do not perform equally in term of on-time arrival rates. The purpose of this paper is to develop airline segmentation in the market based on the on-time performance. Cluster analysis was performed using flight delay data collected from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) databases. The results indicate three major segments in the airline market based on similarities among airlines in regard to their on-time performance. The differences of on-time performance across these segments and the airline profile of each segment provide airlines and passengers useful information to make meaningful decisions.