Definition
A period of time, assigned by Air Traffic Control (ATC) and applied to an arriving aircraft, during which the aircraft must absorb delay before reaching its destination. Arrival delay is used to manage the flow of traffic into a busy airport when the demand exceeds the airport's acceptance rate.
Plain English
Extra time a controller tells an arriving flight to spend in the air before landing, so the destination airport doesn't get overloaded.
Context Anchor
Seen in air traffic control and traffic-flow management discussions when arrivals into an airport need to be slowed or spaced out.
Derivation
Arrival comes from an old word meaning to reach a destination. Delay means to hold back or postpone. Together, they point to traffic being held back before it reaches the airport.
Why Pilots Care
Affects fuel reserves, schedule adjustments, and may require holding or reduced speed on approach.
Intuition Check
Do not read Arrival Delay as simply “my airplane got there late.” In FAA use, it means a planned traffic-management action that creates a gap in the flow of aircraft arriving at an airport.
Example Sentence 1
Center advised us of a 20-minute arrival delay into Atlanta, so we entered holding at the assigned fix.
Example Sentence 2
The controller advised an arrival delay to sequence us behind the heavy traffic on final.