Comprehensive operating efficiency measurement of 28 Chinese airports using a two-stage DEA-Tobit method

This paper presents a two-stage method combining data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a Tobit model to analyze the comprehensive operating efficiency of 28 airports in China in 2016. At the first stage, the DEA-BCC (Banker-Charnes-Cooper) model was employed to obtain the comprehensive operating efficiency of the combination of flight departure punctuality, non-cancellations, landing bridge rates from the perspective of airport infrastructure, surrounding airspace, route layouts, flight volume and weather. At the second stage, a Tobit model was used to analyze the influence of nine input variables from four aspects on obtained comprehensive operating efficiency, ultimately providing a clear and straightforward basis for formulating and testing policies. The comprehensive operating efficiency with this combination was further compared with each of the three efficiencies respectively. The important findings included the following: (1) The comprehensive operation efficiencies of most airports were greater than the individual efficiency; (2) These four types of operation efficiencies for most airports did not achieved DEA validity (100% efficiency), except for six airports (i.e., Haikou, Dalian, Jinan, Fuzhou, Nanning and Lanzhou); (3) These factors affecting each of the four types of operation efficiencies were different in that the number of terminals, duration of impact and average daily inbound and outbound flights had a negative impact on airport operational efficiency, while the average number of overnight aircraft per day and peak hour sorties had positive effects.