Comparison of Taxi-in and Taxi-out Times by Airport Hub Classification and Number of Hot Spots

Taxi time has been identified as a significant factor that may affect airport capacity, congestion, fuel burn, and emissions. Reducing taxi time at airports may contribute to increasing airport efficiency and capacity, and reducing fuel consumption and emissions. In this paper, average quarter-hour taxi-time data from a sample of 33 U.S. airports was analyzed to explore the difference between taxi-out time and taxi-in time. Using parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, this research found that the mean and median taxi-out time was significantly different from the mean and median taxi-in time for each of the three airport hub classifications (small, medium, large), each of the six numbers of airport hot spots (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), and for each combination of hub classification and numbers of hot spots. The results of this research may provide a better understanding of taxi time at small, medium, and large hubs airports with hot spots. The results may be useful to airport managers and decision makers to improve airport efficiency when faced with competing airport improvement initiatives or projects.