Efficiency drivers of international airports: A worldwide benchmarking study

• Published in: Journal of air transport management Vol. 90; p. 101960
• Main Authors: Pacagnella, Antônio Carlos, Hollaender, Paulo Sodre, Mazzanati, Giovanni Vitale, Bortoletto, Wagner Wilson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2021
• Subjects: Airport efficiency; Airport management; Efficiency drivers; Airport management; Efficiency drivers; Airport efficiency
• ISSN: 0969-6997; 1873-2089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101960

The main purpose of these work was to identify operational efficiency drivers of international airports. In order to achieve this, a two-step quantitative-qualitative research approach was conducted. In the first step, a two-stage DEA model was used, and it was possible to identify, within a sample of the 60 biggest airports from the six Airport Council International (ACI) regions, the most efficient airports of the world: Beijing International Airport, Heathrow International Airport, Dubai International Airport, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In the second step of the research, four airports were selected in order to search for the efficiency drivers. In this context, Heathrow International Airport was considered to be a benchmark and presented most of the identified efficiency drivers (27 of 31). Standing out were Just-in-Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) principles and also Passenger boarding optimization, besides the presence of almost all of the most relevant efficiency drivers, according to airport managers.
•After a major revision in scientific literature it was possible to identify 31 airport efficiency drivers.•The most efficient airports were: London Heatrow (LHR), Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta (ATL), Beijing (PEK) and Dubai (DXB).•The region with higher level of efficiency is Asia Pacific (67.50%) followed by Europe (58.60%) and North America (56.69%).•London Heahtrow Airport was considered the benchmark of the study and presented 27 of 31 efficiency drivers.