Nothing focuses the mind on productivity quite like the fear of liquidation: Changes in airline productivity in the United States, 2000–2004

Using data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index, this paper examines changes in the productivity of the major United States passenger airlines from 2000 to 2004. The analysis finds that there was a significant improvement in the productivity of the carriers at transforming labor, fuel and passenger seating capacity into available seat-miles during this period. Most of the productivity improvements came about from the efficiency laggards catching up with the efficiency leaders in the industry. To a lesser extent, the adoption of new technologies improved productivity over this period.