IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v85y2020icp33-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Abiotic determinants of airport performance: Insights from a global survey

Author

Listed:
  • Paraschi, Elen Paraskevi
  • Georgopoulos, Antonios
  • Papatheodorou, Andreas

Abstract

This paper explores airport business in association with its operational, economic, geographical and regulatory environment. The two-stages methodology engages a post-positivist approach and data triangulation. In the first stage, airport performance (AP) is measured with the tailor-made Airport Business Excellence Model in 137 airports spread over 90 countries. Subsequently, the AP scores are examined vis-à-vis an extensive set of abiotic/externally determined factors, such as ownership, regulation, size, seasonality, hub status, location, economic development, traffic mix and performance management system. The data is first processed with the Kruskall-Wallis non-parametric test to detect statistical differences in AP levels among airport subgroups and the relevant contribution of the abiotic determinants is then investigated by multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that the effectiveness of the regulatory mix is in close connection with second-order charging schemes. Furthermore, low seasonality and an extra-large airport size are positively related to AP, whereas non-hub status, the absence of formal performance management systems and the blending of public and private sectors in mixed ownership/management schemes act in the opposite direction.

Suggested Citation

  • Paraschi, Elen Paraskevi & Georgopoulos, Antonios & Papatheodorou, Andreas, 2020. "Abiotic determinants of airport performance: Insights from a global survey," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 33-53.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:85:y:2020:i:c:p:33-53
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.10.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X18306000
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.10.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Merkert, Rico & Assaf, A. George, 2015. "Using DEA models to jointly estimate service quality perception and profitability – Evidence from international airports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 42-50.
    2. Lai, Po‐Lin & Potter, Andrew & Beynon, Malcolm & Beresford, Anthony, 2015. "Evaluating the efficiency performance of airports using an integrated AHP/DEA-AR technique," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-85.
    3. Gregory G. Dess & Richard B. Robinson, 1984. "Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately‐held firm and conglomerate business unit," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 265-273, July.
    4. Yoshida, Yuichiro, 2004. "Endogenous-weight TFP measurement: methodology and its application to Japanese-airport benchmarking," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 151-182, March.
    5. Voltes-Dorta, Augusto & Pagliari, Romano, 2012. "The impact of recession on airports' cost efficiency," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 211-222.
    6. H-A- Vogel, 2006. "Airport Privatisation: Ownership Structure and Financial Performance of European Commercial Airports," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, Intersentia, vol. 7(2), pages 139-163, June.
    7. Brons, Martijn & Pels, Eric & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2002. "Price elasticities of demand for passenger air travel: a meta-analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 165-175.
    8. Ison, Stephen & Francis, Graham & Humphreys, Ian & Page, Richard, 2011. "UK regional airport commercialisation and privatisation: 25years on," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1341-1349.
    9. Oum, Tae H. & Yan, Jia & Yu, Chunyan, 2008. "Ownership forms matter for airport efficiency: A stochastic frontier investigation of worldwide airports," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 422-435, September.
    10. Marques, Rui Cunha & Brochado, Ana, 2008. "Airport regulation in Europe: Is there need for a European Observatory?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 163-172, May.
    11. Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan, 2004. "Measuring airports' operating efficiency: a summary of the 2003 ATRS global airport benchmarking report," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 515-532, November.
    12. Shujie Yao & Xiuyun Yang, 2008. "Airport Development and Regional Economic Growth in China," Discussion Papers 08/07, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    13. Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan & Fu, Xiaowen, 2003. "A comparative analysis of productivity performance of the world's major airports: summary report of the ATRS global airport benchmarking research report—2002," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 285-297.
    14. Curi, Claudia & Gitto, Simone & Mancuso, Paolo, 2010. "The Italian airport industry in transition: a performance analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 218-221.
    15. Scotti, Davide & Malighetti, Paolo & Martini, Gianmaria & Volta, Nicola, 2012. "The impact of airport competition on technical efficiency: A stochastic frontier analysis applied to Italian airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 9-15.
    16. Fung, Michael Ka Yiu & Wan, Ken Kai Hong & Hui, Yer Van & Law, Japhet Sebastian, 2008. "Productivity changes in Chinese airports 1995-2004," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 521-542, May.
    17. Eleftherios Katarelos & Ioannis N. Lagoudis, 2011. "Greek airport capacity utilisation: what about airfreight?," International Journal of Aviation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1/2), pages 124-139.
    18. Tsekeris, Theodore, 2011. "Greek airports: Efficiency measurement and analysis of determinants," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 140-142.
    19. Francis, Graham & Humphreys, Ian & Fry, Jackie, 2002. "The benchmarking of airport performance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 239-247.
    20. Barros, Carlos Pestana, 2008. "Airports in Argentina: Technical efficiency in the context of an economic crisis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 315-319.
    21. Oum, Tae H. & Adler, Nicole & Yu, Chunyan, 2006. "Privatization, Corporatization, Ownership Forms and their Effects on the Performance of the World’s Major Airports," 47th Annual Transportation Research Forum, New York, New York, March 23-25, 2006 208026, Transportation Research Forum.
    22. Vincenzo Fasone & Sandra Zapata-Aguirre, 2016. "Measuring business performance in the airport context: a critical review of literature," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 65(8), pages 1137-1158, November.
    23. Volodymyr Bilotkach & Joseph Clougherty & Juergen Mueller & Anming Zhang, 2012. "Regulation, privatization, and airport charges: panel data evidence from European airports," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 73-94, August.
    24. Pyrialakou, V. Dimitra & Karlaftis, Matthew G. & Michaelides, Panayotis G., 2012. "Assessing operational efficiency of airports with high levels of low-cost carrier traffic," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 33-36.
    25. Paolo Malighetti & Gianmaria Martini & Stefano Paleari & Renato Redondi, 2007. "An Empirical Investigation on the Efficiency, Capacity and Ownership of Italian Airports," Working Papers 0703, Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo.
    26. Papatheodorou, Andreas & Arvanitis, Pavlos, 2009. "Spatial evolution of airport traffic and air transport liberalisation: the case of Greece," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 402-412.
    27. Koo, T. & Halpern, N. & Papatheodorou, A. & Graham, A. & Arvanitis, P., 2016. "Air transport liberalisation and airport dependency: developing a composite index," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 83-93.
    28. Gitto, Simone & Mancuso, Paolo, 2012. "Two faces of airport business: A non-parametric analysis of the Italian airport industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 39-42.
    29. Littlechild, Stephen, 2018. "Economic regulation of privatised airports: Some lessons from UK experience," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 114(PA), pages 100-114.
    30. Oum, Tae H. & Adler, Nicole & Yu, Chunyan, 2006. "Privatization, corporatization, ownership forms and their effects on the performance of the world's major airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 109-121.
    31. Pestana Barros, Carlos & Dieke, Peter U.C., 2007. "Performance evaluation of Italian airports: A data envelopment analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 184-191.
    32. Adler, Nicole & Liebert, Vanessa, 2014. "Joint impact of competition, ownership form and economic regulation on airport performance and pricing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 92-109.
    33. Pels, Eric & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2001. "Relative efficiency of European airports," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 183-192, July.
    34. Bazargan, Massoud & Vasigh, Bijan, 2003. "Size versus efficiency: a case study of US commercial airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 187-193.
    35. Assaf, A. George & Gillen, David & Barros, Carlos, 2012. "Performance assessment of UK airports: Evidence from a Bayesian dynamic frontier model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 603-615.
    36. Lin, L.C. & Hong, C.H., 2006. "Operational performance evaluation of international major airports: An application of data envelopment analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 342-351.
    37. Reinhold, Annika & Niemeier, Hans-Martin & Kamp, Vanessa & Müller, Jürgen, 2010. "An evaluation of yardstick regulation for European airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 74-80.
    38. Malcolm Abbott & Su Wu, 2002. "Total Factor Productivity and Efficiency of Australian Airports," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 35(3), pages 244-260, September.
    39. Correia, Anderson Ribeiro & Wirasinghe, S.C. & de Barros, Alexandre G., 2008. "A global index for level of service evaluation at airport passenger terminals," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 607-620, July.
    40. Pels, Eric & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2003. "Inefficiencies and scale economies of European airport operations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 341-361, September.
    41. Paolo Malighetti & Gianmaria Martini & Stefano Paleari & Renato Redondi, 2007. "An Empirical Investigation on the Efficiency, Capacity Ownership of Italian Airports," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 97(1), pages 157-188, January-F.
    42. Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan, 2004. "Airport Performance: A Summary of the 2003 ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Report," 45th Annual Transportation Research Forum, Evanston, Illinois, March 21-23, 2004 208226, Transportation Research Forum.
    43. Elton Fernandes & Ricardo Pacheco, 2010. "A quality approach to airport management," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 551-564, April.
    44. Richardson, Charles & Budd, Lucy & Pitfield, David, 2014. "The impact of airline lease agreements on the financial performance of US hub airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-15.
    45. De Nicola, Arianna & Gitto, Simone & Mancuso, Paolo, 2013. "Airport quality and productivity changes: A Malmquist index decomposition assessment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 67-75.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhou, Yaoming & Kundu, Tanmoy & Goh, Mark & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing, 2023. "Beyond throughput: Incorporating air transport network topology in airport performance measurement," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Halpern, Nigel & Mwesiumo, Deodat & Suau-Sanchez, Pere & Budd, Thomas & Bråthen, Svein, 2021. "Ready for digital transformation? The effect of organisational readiness, innovation, airport size and ownership on digital change at airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Dan, 2016. "Measuring aeronautical service efficiency and commercial service efficiency of East Asia airport companies: An application of Network Data Envelopment Analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 11-22.
    2. Huynh, Triet Minh & Kim, Gyuseung & Ha, Hun-Koo, 2020. "Comparative analysis of efficiency for major Southeast Asia airports: A two-stage approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Daraio, Cinzia & Nastasi, Alberto, 2015. "Competition and efficiency in the Italian airport system: new insights from a conditional nonparametric frontier analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 20-38.
    4. Myung Je Lee & Changhee Kim, 2018. "A network DEA aeronautical and non-aeronautical production model: an application to South Korea airports," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Vogel, Hans-Arthur & Graham, Anne, 2013. "Devising airport groupings for financial benchmarking," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 32-38.
    6. Fabio Carlucci & Andrea Cirà & Paolo Coccorese, 2018. "Measuring and Explaining Airport Efficiency and Sustainability: Evidence from Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, February.
    7. lo Storto, Corrado, 2018. "Ownership structure and the technical, cost, and revenue efficiency of Italian airports," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 175-193.
    8. Kan Tsui, Wai Hong & Balli, Hatice Ozer & Gilbey, Andrew & Gow, Hamish, 2014. "Operational efficiency of Asia–Pacific airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 16-24.
    9. Adler, Nicole & Ülkü, Tolga & Yazhemsky, Ekaterina, 2013. "Small regional airport sustainability: Lessons from benchmarking," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 22-31.
    10. Curi, Claudia & Gitto, Simone & Mancuso, Paolo, 2011. "New evidence on the efficiency of Italian airports: A bootstrapped DEA analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 84-93, June.
    11. Ahn, Young-Hyo & Min, Hokey, 2014. "Evaluating the multi-period operating efficiency of international airports using data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 12-22.
    12. Voltes-Dorta, Augusto & Pagliari, Romano, 2012. "The impact of recession on airports' cost efficiency," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 211-222.
    13. Assaf, A. George & Gillen, David & Barros, Carlos, 2012. "Performance assessment of UK airports: Evidence from a Bayesian dynamic frontier model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 603-615.
    14. Bezerra, George C.L. & Gomes, Carlos F., 2018. "Performance measurement practices in airports: Multidimensionality and utilization patterns," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 113-125.
    15. Abbott, Malcolm, 2015. "Reform and efficiency of New Zealand's airports," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-9.
    16. Tovar, Beatriz & Martín-Cejas, Roberto Rendeiro, 2009. "Are outsourcing and non-aeronautical revenues important drivers in the efficiency of Spanish airports?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 217-220.
    17. Lai, Po‐Lin & Potter, Andrew & Beynon, Malcolm & Beresford, Anthony, 2015. "Evaluating the efficiency performance of airports using an integrated AHP/DEA-AR technique," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-85.
    18. Randrianarisoa, Laingo Manitra & Bolduc, Denis & Choo, Yap Yin & Oum, Tae Hoon & Yan, Jia, 2015. "Effects of corruption on efficiency of the European airports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 65-83.
    19. Graham, Prof Anne, 2020. "Airport privatisation: A successful journey?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    20. Tsui, Wai Hong Kan & Gilbey, Andrew & Balli, Hatice Ozer, 2014. "Estimating airport efficiency of New Zealand airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 78-86.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:85:y:2020:i:c:p:33-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.