Slacks-based measureofefficiencyofairportswithairplanesdelays as undesirableoutputs

This paperreportstheslacks-basedmeasure(SBM)ofefficiencyof39Spanishairportsforyears2006 and 2007.Inadditiontotheconventionaloutputs(namelyaircrafttrafficmovements,passenger movementsandcargohandled),twoundesirableoutputshavebeenconsidered:percentageofdelayed flightsandaverageconditionaldelayofdelayedflights.Theinputsconsideredquantifythephysical infrastructureoftheairportsandareconsiderednon-discretionary.TheproposedDataEnvelopment Analysis(DEA)approachassumesvariablereturnstoscaleandjointweakdisposabilityofthedesirable and undesirableoutputs.TheSBMmodelusedhasbeenfoundtohavemorediscriminatorypowerthan the commondirectionaldistancefunctionapproach.Also,theinclusionintheanalysisofthe undesirableeffectsofairportoperationsleadstomorevalidresults.Theresultsshowthatinbothyears more thanhalfoftheairportsaretechnicalefficientwiththerestshowingingenerallargeinefficiencies due toslacksinthedifferentoutputs,slacksthattheproposedSBMapproachisabletoidentifyand quantify.Overall,thesystemhassignificantimprovementpotentialincargoandtoalessextentin passengersandpercentageofdelayedflights.