Performance of European airports: regulation, ownership and managerial efficiency

This article analyses regulation, ownership and unobserved managerial ability as factors affecting the performance of a representative sample of European airports by means of frontier models. The Alvarez et al. (2004) frontier model is used. These airports are ranked according to their technical efficiency during the period 2001 to 2004 and homogenous and heterogeneous variables are disentangled in the cost function, which leads us to advise the implementation of common policies as well as policies by segments. Economic implications arising from the study are also considered.