Productivity changes in Chinese airports 1995–2004

This paper reports a study of the patterns of productivity changes in 25 regional airports in China during the period 1995–2004. We found the average annual growth in airport productivity to be above 3%. By the decomposition of the Malmquist index, we identified the major source of productivity growth to be technical progress, rather than an improvement in efficiency. The kernel smoothing method revealed a trend of disparate productivity among the airports that was due to the polarization of efficiency. Our results imply that reform policies should focus on non-hub airports, non-listed airports, and airports in the northeast region if more balanced development is to be achieved.