Benchmarking the noise-oriented efficiency of major European airports: A directional distance function approach

•We estimate noise-oriented efficiency of major European airports in 2006 and 2011.•A directional distance function is combined with the Malmquist–Luenberger index.•European airports have improved their noise efficiency between 2006 and 2011.•Larger aircraft size is linked to better noise efficiency.•More stringent night movement limits would improve noise efficiency.

The EU Environmental Noise Directive (END) requires member states to produce noise action plans for all major airports every five years. Using that data, this paper employs a directional distance function approach to estimate noise-oriented efficiency of 60 European airports between 2006 and 2011. Technical change is calculated using the Malmquist productivity index. The results indicate that European airports have improved their noise efficiency between 2006 and 2011, and some degree of convergence in noise performance across countries is seen. Larger aircraft size is linked to better noise performance. Inefficient airports would also benefit from more stringent night movement limits.