Capacity shortfall and efficiency determinants in Brazilian airports: Evidence from bootstrapped DEA estimates

This paper reports on the use of different approaches for assessing efficiency related-issues in 63 major Brazilian airports. Starting out with the bootstrapping technique presented in Simar and Wilson (1998, 2004), several DEA estimates were generated, allowing the use of confidence intervals and bias correction in central estimates to test for significant differences in efficiency levels, returns-to-scale, and input-decreasing/output-increasing potentials. The findings corroborate anecdotal and empirical evidence regarding a capacity shortfall within Brazilian airports, where infrastructure slack is virtually inexistent, regardless of the airport type and location.

► Findings corroborate a capacity shortfall within Brazilian airports.
► Infrastructure slack is virtually inexistent, regardless of the airport type.
► It is possible to split Brazilian airports into different efficiency groups.