A Comparison Study of Medium Airport Management in Different Countries (original) (raw)

Measuring the efficiency of Greek regional airports prior to privatization using Data Envelopment Analysis

Measuring the efficiency of Greek regional airports prior to privatization using Data Envelopment Analysis, 2019

Air transport plays a fundamental role for local and global economic development. Greek airports in particular constitute an important infrastructure asset for regional development and the promotion of the domestic touristic product. However, many regional airports suffer from economic difficulties due to the lack of high volume of traffic, while others provide poor quality services during the commercially critical summer months. In this paper, we employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) based on a data set obtained by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, in order to benchmark the technical efficiency of the 14 Greek regional airports during 2016, just before their privatization. An output-oriented DEA model is used to assess separately the efficiency of the main infrastructural elements of the airports (i.e., terminal, airside area) on an annual and seasonal basis. The input of the terminal model includes the terminal area, as well as the number of baggage collection belts, gates, and check-in points, while the output deals with the total number of passengers. As far as the airside model is concerned, this uses as input the number and length of runways, the apron size and aircraft parking capacity, with the output being the total number of aircraft movements. The key factors influencing efficiency are investigated in order to suggest necessary improvements or upgrades and compare them with existing investment plans in the currently privatized airports. The results show that a significant lack of efficiency at regional airports can be mainly attributed to the relatively low ability to manage their resources, so as to increase output transport volumes. Finally, most airports are characterized by high scale efficiency and increasing returns to scale (IRS). The latter may provide incentives for investments towards airport capacity on expansion or upgrade projects and a more efficient management of scarce airport resources.

Privatization and Regulation: A Review of Airport Industry Practices

While airports were seen as purely public establishments for many years, today approaches to airport governance have been changing in many countries and private participation has become a part of many governments’ agenda. This study aims to examine methods, incentives and outcomes of private participation in airport management and operations and different regulation applications in different countries. Findings show that there are many similarities between countries both in incentives and outcomes of airport privatization. On the other hand, some country-specific reasons and results need to be examined in their contexts.

Economic Evaluation of Investments in Airports: Recent Developments

Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 2021

The problem of how to evaluate investments in airports has now been studied for over 50 years. This paper analyzes the use of different methods like cost–benefit analysis (CBA), economic impact analysis (EIA), and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to address the question. It assesses the strength and weaknesses of each method, and it discusses which methods have been used in different countries. The paper argues that the CBA approach and the newer CGE modeling approach address the policy issue well and that both methods are appropriate, although improvements are possible, especially in the newer aspects of evaluation. Furthermore, more data intensive CGE models are able to analyze broader aspects of the evaluation question for which CBA has had difficulty. EIA does not address the problem satisfactorily, and it misleads air transport policy. But this evaluation contrasts sharply with practice. EIA has been extensively used to decide on airport investment. CGE approaches ar...

The characteristics and variables Accounted by Operators in the Planning and Operation of Airports

2019

This paper presents airports as crucial components of the aviation industry. Airports play a vital role within the macro environment of transportation in general and in the process of improving the quality of life in regional economies due to their role in wealth creation. Therefore, operators are subject to considerable benchmarking characteristics and variables to plan and run airports effectively. This paper is centered on this discussion and provides a comprehensive review of the operational variables of airports.