Nobody wants to be late. But at a busy airline hub like Atlanta or Chicago, even a brief delay in aircraft arrival can result in missed connections and cascade into a major inconvenience. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that this year alone, more than 750,000 flights operated by U.S. carriers arrived late and over 25 percent of flights were delayed by 15 minutes or more or cancelled. The estimated economic costs of these delays, both for airlines and for passengers, are in the billions.