Effects of competition and policy changes on Chinese airport productivity: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the influence of competition and aviation policy reform (for example, the airport localization program and listing airports on stock markets) in China on the efficiency of Chinese airports. By using Data Envelopment Analysis, we estimate both the productivity level and its growth for 25 sample Chinese airports. After controlling for hub status and other airports' characteristics, we find that: (i) publicly listed airports are significantly more efficient than non-listed airports; (ii) airports with more competition are more efficient than their counterparts; (iii) the airports' efficiency and the technical progress are positively correlated with the airport localization program; and (iv) the impacts of open-skies agreements and airline mergers on the airports' efficiency are statistically insignificant. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.