Airlines may manage their on-time performance by lengthening schedules with engineered increases in planned flight times. We develop an econometric model of high dimensional sparse (HDS) regression to decompose the extra schedule block times into operational and strategic factors. We estimate the impact of extra times on flight delays, allowing for the moderation effects of runway congestion, slots, and propagated delay. We test the hypothesis of the existence and effectiveness of schedule padding practices. We find that a 2012 on-time disclosure rule may have induced carriers’ padding behavior. In contrast, slot regulation may prevent the formation of extra block times.

航空公司可以通过增加计划的飞行时间来延长时间表，从而管理其准时绩效。我们开发了高维稀疏（HDS）回归的计量经济学模型，以将额外的计划时间分解为运营和战略因素。我们估计加班时间对航班延误的影响，从而考虑到跑道拥挤，时段和传播延误的影响。我们测试了时间表填充实践的存在和有效性的假设。我们发现，2012年的按时披露规则可能会诱发运营商的填充行为。相反，时隙调节可以防止形成额外的块时间。