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Abstract
The proportion of flights delayed by non-weather causes has steadily increased over the past decade amidst fluctuating levels of passenger volume and overall delay. With large increases in individual air carrier levels of non-weather delay having been found to coincide with merger events, two such mergers are studied in detail. Domestic flight data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics is utilized to identify characteristics of routes that increased in non-weather delays following the Delta-Northwest and United-Continental mergers. Common characteristics of such problematic routes are identified through network analysis in Gephi software, and are tested for statistical significance with multivariate regression analysis. Route characteristics that are significantly positively correlated with increases in non-weather related delay for both mergers include: operation by the acquiring carrier (Delta or United), originating from a medium or large hub, and originating from an airport with high delay.