An Empirical Investigation on the Efficiency, Capacity Ownership of Italian Airports

In this paper we study the efficiency of Italian airports applying a DEA model to 34 airports. We find that large airports are more efficient than domestic and regional ones, i.e. small airports have spare capacity since they are more distant from the frontier than large airports. The Tobit regression on the estimated DEA scores shows that efficiency is positively related with the hub premium and with privatisation. Hence we suggest that privatisation incentives to invest in large airports (close to saturation) and development plans to improve the small airports may form the benchmarks of Italian short-run air transportation policy.

MacBeth as a MCDA Tool to Benchmark the Iberian Airports

This work relates to airports benchmarking which is a very important issue for stakeholders. Airports benchmarking depends on airport performance indicators which are also important issues for business and operational management, regulatory bodies, airlines and passengers. There are several sets of indicators to evaluate airports performance and also there are several techniques to benchmark airports. This work uses MacBeth - a MCDA (Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis) tool, to evaluate the attractiveness of the most important Iberian Airports. This approach is a new one and the preliminary results are very promising when compared with some traditional studies of airports benchmarking. Key words: Airports Benchmarking, MCDA/MacBeth, Iberian Airports

Relative efficiency of Argentinean airports

The main objectives of this paper are to measure the relative efficiency of Argentinean airports, and to infer possible regulatory consequences of the results. We pay attention to regional differences that could help the regulator in its task. At the same time, we try to determine which “environmental” variables (in the sense of particular conditions which are specific to different sets of airports) affect the relative efficiency of different airports. Since 1997, most of the airports were privatized, by means of concessions contracts. Of the DEA analysis we derive two broad conclusions. Firstly, significant differences in efficiency are prevalent in Argentinean airports. Secondly, best-practice calculations indicate that much of the Argentinean airports operate at a high level of efficiency during the period. Therefore, the overall conclusion is that Argentinean airports are mixed managed during the period as far as technical efficiency is concerned. Moreover, dimension makes a difference and therefore, some airports have decreasing returns to scale, while others have increasing returns to scale.efficiency; airports; Argentina

The impact of airport competition on technical efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis applied to Italian airports

We investigate how the intensity of competition among airports affects their technical efficiency by computing airports’ markets on the basis of a potential demand approach. We find that the intensity of competition has a negative impact on airports’ efficiency in Italy during the 2005–2008 period. This implies that airports belonging to a local air transportation system where competition is strong exploit their inputs less intensively than do airports with local monopoly power. Furthermore, we find that public airports are more efficient than private and mixed ones. Since public airports take into account the positive externalities created by air transportation in the local economy, they are more willing to subsidize airlines in developing the airports’ connections. Hence, policy makers should provide incentives to implement airports’ specialization in local systems where competition is strong. Moreover, when regulating airport charges, they should take into account the impact of the above externalities.Airport efficiency; stochastic distance function; airport competition

Airport Deregulation and Airline Competition

Liberalisation has affected all parts of the air travel industry, with airports as well as airlines increasingly run on commercial lines. This paper models interactions between airports and airlines to show that, for example, the potential benefits to passengers of increased competition between airlines may be (more than) absorbed by the unregulated airports through which they travel, and that effecting airport competition in one country may lead to the majority of the gains going abroad. The policy conclusion is that the (de)regulation of airlines and associated services should be fully co-ordinated and internationally coherent. Keywords: Airports, airlines, competition, deregulation

Risk analysis in the surrounding areas of one-runway airports: A methodology to preliminary calculus of PSZs dimensions

The risk analysis of aeronautical accidents has been faced in several countries in order to plan the territory around airports. In the past, many accidents have had serious consequences in the surrounding of airports. To protect the dwellers in these zones, Sapienza University of Rome has studied a risk assessment model of air crash accident during take-off or landing. In force of an agreement with the National Aviation Authority, the major Italian airports have been analyzed. These studies have highlighted the opportunity to know the influence on the territory of the variation of the traffic volume. This knowledge can be particularly useful for forecasting the impact on the territory in a preliminary phase of the master planning activity of the airport. The influence of the traffic volume and the types of aircraft on the sizes of safety areas around airports has been studied with a computer program developed by the authors. As a result of this first analysis, a simplified approach to study the extension of the Public Safety Zones around an airport is presented. This method calculates the area and the main dimensions of PSZs for a number of representative cases of one-runway airports with more than 30000 operations per year. In Europe, there are a large number of one-runway airports and they have similar operational and traffic conditions. Therefore, the results here presented can be applied for a preliminary study to all the one-runway airports, having the same level of traffic of the airports considered in this paper

Airport Deregulation and Airline Competition

Liberalisation has affected all parts of the air travel industry, with airports as well as airlines increasingly run on commercial lines. This paper models interactions between airports and airlines to show that, for example, the potential benefits to passengers of increased competition between airlines may be (more than) absorbed by the unregulated airports through which they travel, and that effecting airport competition in one country may lead to the majority of the gains going abroad. The policy conclusion is that the (de)regulation of airlines and associated services should be fully co-ordinated and internationally coherent. Keywords: Airports, airlines, competition, deregulation

Development Challenges of Secondary and Small Airports in California, Research Report 11-21

This study investigates the development of secondary and smaller airports in California. Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) business is growing at these airports because they offer reduced operating costs, and they have adequate capacity to help LCCs avoid battling with incumbent airlines at the large hubs for limited resources, such as gates. However, increased LCC aircraft operations at the secondary airports have led to significant noise impacts on the surrounding communities and this has been a challenge for the secondary airport operators. They have imposed operational curfews to limit the noise impacts, but this approach constrains the resident airlines that want to increase their traffic. As a result, some LCCs have begun to initiate flights out of the large hubs. Statistics from this study show that the LCCs have replaced the legacy airlines as the dominant air provider in the state. With their growing dominance, the LCCs will become more attractive to the large hub airports, and the secondary airports will face increased competition in retaining them. To retain those LCCs, the secondary airports must better understand how LCCs make investment decisions related to airport development. At the same time, they must better educate the LCCs about their airport needs

The knowledge economy, hub airports and accessibility. A location based perspective.

The airplane is gradually creating a completely new spatial pattern as did other kinds of transportation modes in the past. Successively, international airports have gone through a morphogenesis from original pure infrastructure facilities into multimodal and multilayered spatial growth poles and center of competences. Landside infrastructure investments have converted airports and their hinterland into spaces of highest accessibility. The airports unique locational advantages and the growing segment of non-aviation activities on the part of the airport operators have made airports an advantageous business location for knowledge-intensive industries. At the same time airports have become a crucial asset for city-regions especially those competing on a European or international spatial level for future-oriented enterprises and highly skilled employees. The paper asks about the general interplay between airports, air transport and the knowledge economy. What are the contributions of the knowledge economy that explain the economic effects of airports on the spatial structure? What kinds of knowledge economy linked locational patterns have already emerged around airports? What is their spatial relationship to more traditional locations for example within the core cities? Why does an array of knowledge-based companies relocate their business activities at spaces of highest accessibility such as international airports? This paper analyzes aviation induced spatial patterns and processes of specialization around European airports, especially around those with hub function. First results show that airports and their vicinities have become attractive sites for real estate developments and property-led capital accumulation. Locations directly at or close by international airports are notably in demand among highly globalized sectors characterized by their need for frequent face-to-face interaction, high value products and services. As the traditional role of airports is redefined a new spatial quality and entity within the city regions is evolving.

The Cagliari Airport impact on Sardinia tourism: a Logit-based analysis

In the field of air transportation management, traditionally, airlines have been the main actors in the process for deciding which new flights open in a given airport, while airports acted only as the managers of the operations. The changes in the market due to the introduction of low cost companies, with consequent reduction of the airports' fares, as well as the increment of the density of regional airports in several European countries are modifying the mutual roles of airlines and airports. The final decision on new flight to be opened, in fact, is nowadays the result of a negotiation between airlines and airports. The airports must prove the sustainability on the new routes and forecast the economic impact on their catchment area. This paper contributes to advance the current state-of-the-art along two axes. From the pure transportation literature point of view, we introduce a Logit model able to predict the passengers flow in an airport when the management introduces a change in the flight schedule. The model is also able to predict the impact of this change on the airports in the surrounding areas. The second contribution is a case study on the tourist market of the Sardinia region, where we show how to use the results of the model to deduce the economic impact of the decisions of the management of the Cagliari airport on its catchment area in terms of tourists and economic growt