Impact of Flights Delays on Productivity of Yangtze River Delta Airports

This paper discusses productivity of 10 airports around Yangtze River Delta in 2007. This study differs from previous work in that both desirable and undesirable outputs (i.e., number of delays flights) are considered. A nonparametric directional output distance function, rather than the traditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), was applied. For comparison purposes, a DEA model without consideration of undesirable outputs was also estimated. The results show that after flights delays are taken into assessment, many small, less congested airports are found more efficient, which even on the efficient frontier. Overall, the evaluation results should be more comprehensive and fairer in sense. They indicate that there may be a balance between quantity and quality of outputs in the achievement of efficient outcomes.