Airport ownership and financial performance: Evidence from Italy

•The relationship between Italian airport financial performance and mix of equity is analyzed.•Empirical evidence for two groups of airports (public or private) is shown.•The findings indicate that companies with a private majority outperform the others.

In the past few decades many countries have increased the presence of various forms of private sector involvement in airport ownership and management. This paper focuses on the financial performance of Italian airport companies. We present empirical evidence separately for two groups where public or private management majority prevails. The main findings indicate that companies with a private majority outperform the others in terms of financial indicators that are related to operating income.