News Flash - Fuel is not the airlines largest controllable cost item. While fuel is expensive ($3.878/gal, IATA 2026-05-13 <https://www.iata.org/en/publications/economics/fuel-monitor/> ), and a very large line-item on an airline's balance sheet, there is a controllable airline cost that is 4 times larger.
I am talking about lost aircraft productivity, which has been institutionalized into the airline's "day of" operation though the continual addition of scheduled flight/gate time buffers. Unfortunately, this is not a visible line-item cost on the airline's balance sheet, so there is minimal focus on this problem, especially since airlines incorrectly assume that this is an ATC problem. Airlines accept this as the cost of doing business - it's NOT. Airlines could internally cut their scheduled flight/gate time buffers by 50% within just a few years. The upside, along with freeing up a significant amount of aircraft productivity, is that this also reduces the airline's delays and fuel costs. ATC can't do this, FAA/NATS/Eurocontrol can't do this, only each individual airline has the internal ability to dramatically improve their "day of" production line. Airlines could. Airlines should. Airlines don't. Airline Delays - Random Point Overloads White Paper (AGIFORS, 2026-04-14) - https://lnkd.in/gzXJMnS8 <https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2FgzXJMnS8&; urlhash=zEA-&mt=I6L7Mb4QOnPCn1Tr0NSIgIQRD_TjjJCuncolybNPjjrX77gZrsHHzAj-aZE0 x1YRw22yeM0M4sT-5qp97pyz5Aj7FJ7fjAUFUYKrrgKO6pCf01Ihvu5qU-Pn&isSdui=true> Who Controls the Movement of the Aircraft? (Leeham News, 2026-03-31) - https://lnkd.in/ghuXRbCy <https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2FghuXRbCy&; urlhash=l8cW&mt=tTzPYTRmeP8VM7MRmi1_80qk4mbHq7pDB2Up5vq8bm_463UIrwpeW4TSJ4Z5 zrt909Qu-M1I6WgxitIZFKNQ2SC7WDEpvkPLy-jzA8HAppqLvfZEtZbtwpDx&isSdui=true> What Airlines Should Want? (MTS, Winter, 2026) - https://lnkd.in/gCpnAamr <https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2FgCpnAamr&; urlhash=Ri43&mt=_NTTBsxQX0Byz_LlDJzhLlNjECoTwgFIXNVawCs7b7HEU_S4n9LOyX_icwvN t_LiQvHoqQuERPdEmK48r0SG1TYqZq-AT9IF2eSGvVRnfxStwOrPpO33iZSI&isSdui=true> Michael xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx R. Michael Baiada cell - (303) 521-6047 [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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