A Cooperative Recovery Strategy for Massive Flight Delays Based on Satisficing Game Theory

Severe weather conditions, intervention from military activities, and other unforeseen hazards frequently lead to the massive flight delays in the aviation sector. This will bring significant economic losses for airports and airlines and may even result in problems such as incidents due to passenger crowding at airports. Recovery of massive flight delays involves the operation and related interests of multiple stakeholders, such as air traffic control, airports and airlines. Therefore, it is necessary to study a cooperative recovery strategy based on the satisfaction of the above parties to guide the optimal and rapid recovery of massive flight delays in practical airport operation. Applying the satisficing game theory method considers various costs, including the impact of the delayed flights on ramp control, congestion within control sectors, the entire air traffic network, and the economic losses of airlines. This study also analyzes the factors influencing the recovery operations and decisions for delayed flights by proposing a model that maximizes air flow while ensuring the recovery of flights without further delay. Additionally, a collaborative recovery strategy model for air traffic control, airports, and airlines under massive flight delays based on the principles of satisficing game theory is developed. The model considers the principles of air traffic control release flow, airport capacity, and the recovery of delayed flights by airlines. An illustrative case study is conducted for the recovery of 50 delayed flights that were scheduled to depart from Beijing Capital International Airport from 07:00 to 12:30. The findings show that, the proposed model and methodology facilitate the recovery of 32 flights during 12:30 to 16:30 time frame, showcasing a 10.34% increase compared to the actual recovery of 29 flights. Moreover, the estimated order of flight recovery and the time window for each flight's recovery reduce the economic losses incurred by airlines by approximately 3 million Chinese Yuan and save approximately 19 hours in time costs. The strategy also effectively reduces the flight adjustment volume, significantly mitigates the flight delay losses, and enhances the overall benefits of flight recovery, thus validating the effectiveness of the recovery strategy model.