Richard Riley wrote in
:

That 15 minute delay cost them $2294.

Not if they made the next scheduled flight segment for that aircraft.

That 15 minute delay cost them nothing in lost revenue opportunity if the
plane would have otherwise spent the same 15 minutes sitting idle at the gate
at the arrival airport.

The baggage handlers, the cleaning crews, the food supply crews and the
fueling crews were all done and gone. So their hourly rates were not lost.

I don't know for sure how pilot's time is tracked, but I believe it's
possible that the 15 minute delay could have caused a crew change
requirement. But that could have easily happened if there was an ATC delay,
or a headwind as well - we're talking about 15 minutes.

The only real, definitive cost that I can figure on is the cost to run the
APU for the extra 15 minutes, and the cost of 15 minutes the relatively small
airline staff necessary to support the departure of the plane from the gate:
- the gate agent and the tow crew.

I still agree that it's hardly likely that 15 minutes of delay costs more
than the average person makes in a year. But perhaps Paul was talking
specifically to MX.