Capacity dynamics and the formulation of the airport capacity/stability paradox: A European perspective

Access to capacity is often considered to be uncertain, causing airlines to build buffer times into their flight schedules in anticipation of potential delays. Similarly, air navigation service providers use capacity buffers to overcome potential safety standard violations. However, the use of excessive buffers is detrimental to cost efficiency in the air transport system. This paper improves our understanding of capacity predictability. The concepts of capacity dynamics and stability are taken as integral parts of an airport's plan to mitigate the risk of capacity degradation. Based on the concepts of capacity dynamics and stability, the capacity/stability paradox is introduced and discussed.