Ownership structure and the technical, cost, and revenue efficiency of Italian airports

This paper investigates the role of the different ownership types of operators in the Italian airport sector. A meta-frontier conceptualization is utilized to consider ownership heterogeneity and compare airport efficiencies. Efficiencies are measured from multiple perspectives. Cluster analysis is adopted to uncover airport configurations with respect to inefficiencies. The results suggest that ownership heterogeneity may exert substantial influence on airport efficiency. However, while PPP airports have greater technical efficiency than airports operated by publicly owned operators, the meta-frontier analysis relative to cost and revenue efficiency does not provide evidence that PPP airports perform better. Indeed, publicly managed airports achieve comparable or better performance in terms of revenue efficiency. Findings also indicate that ownership is not the only factor affecting airport performance.