An evaluation of the world's major airlines' technical and environmental performance

Economic Modelling

Volumn 41, Issue , 2014, Pages 133-144

  Arjomandi, Amir ^a   Seufert, Juergen Heinz ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG   (Australia)

Author keywords

Aviation; Bootstrap; Data envelopment analysis; Efficiency; Emissions

Indexed keywords

EID: 84901446901     PISSN: 02649993     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2014.05.002     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Assaf A. Are U.S. airlines really in crisis?. Tour. Manag. 2009, 30(6):916-921.
2. Assaf A. A fresh look at the productivity and efficiency changes of UK airlines. Appl. Econ. 2011, 43(17):2165-2175.
3. Assaf A.G., Josiassen A. The operational performance of UK airlines: 2002-2007. J. Econ. Stud. 2011, 38(1):5-16.
4. Assaf A.G., Josiassen A. European vs. U.S. airlines: performance comparison in a dynamic market. Tour. Manag. 2012, 33(2):317-326.
5. Australian Government Securing a clean energy future Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/clean-energy-future/our-plan/securing-a-clean-energy-future-in-summary/.
6. Australian Government Clean Energy Act 2011 Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011A00131/Html/Text#_Toc308513534.
7. Barbot C., Costa Á., Sochirca E. Airlines performance in the new market context: a comparative productivity and efficiency analysis. J. Air Transp. Manag. 2008, 14(5):270-274.
8. Barla P., Perelman S. Technical efficiency in airlines under regulated and deregulated environments. Ann. Public Coop. Econ. 1989, 60(1):103-124.
9. Barros C.P., Garcia-del-Barrio P. Efficiency measurement of the english football premier league with a random frontier model. Econ. Model. 2008, 25:994-1002.
10. Barros C.P., Peypoch N. An evaluation of European airlines' operational performance. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 2009, 122(2):525-533.
11. Ceha R., Ohta H. Productivity change model in the airline industry: a parametric approach. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2000, 121(3):641-655.
12. Chang Y.C., Yu M.M. Measuring production and consumption efficiencies using the slack-based measure network data envelopment analysis approach: the case of low-cost carriers. J. Adv. Transp 2012, 10.1002/atr.1198.
13. Charnes A., Cooper W.W., Rhodes E. Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 1978, 2(6):429-444.
14. Charnes A., Gallegos A., Li H. Robustly efficient parametric frontiers via multiplicative DEA for domestic and international operations of the Latin American airline industry. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 1996, 88(3):525-536.
15. Chiou Y.C., Chen Y.H. Route-based performance evaluation of Taiwanese domestic airlines using data envelopment analysis. Transp. Res. E Logist. Transp. Rev. 2006, 42(2):116-127.
16. Coelli T., Grifell-Tatjé E., Perelman S. Capacity utilisation and profitability: a decomposition of short-run profit efficiency. Int. J. Prod. Econ. 2002, 79(3):261-278.
17. Coelli T., Perelman S., Romano E. Accounting for environmental influences in stochastic frontier models: with application to international airlines. J. Prod. Anal. 1999, 11(3):251-273.
18. Coli M., Nissi E., Rapposelli A. Efficiency evaluation in an airline company: some empirical results. J. Appl. Sci. 2011, 11(4):737-742.
19. Commonwealth of Australia Clean Energy Bill 2011 Online available at:, (accessed on 29 July, 2012). http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/submissions/clean-energy-legislative-package/~/media/publications/clean-energy-legislation/exposure-draft-clean-energy-bill-2011-pdf.pdf.
20. Environment News Service Aviation industry rejects Europe's climate emissions trading system Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2007/2007-10-02-03.asp.
21. EU Parliament European Parliament legislative resolution of 13 November 2007 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (COM(2006)0818 - C6-0011/2007-2006/0304(COD)) Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 201). http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do;jsessionid=091C092C4F6DC1DE46891BC8673E6B0D.node1?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0505+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN#top.
22. Euractive Aviation and emissions trading Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://www.euractiv.com/climate-environment/aviation-emissions-trading-linksdossier-188345.
23. Färe R., Grosskopf S., Tyteca D. An activity analysis model of the environmental performance of firms-application to fossil-fuel-fired electric utilities. Ecol. Econ. 1996, 18(2):161-175.
24. Farrell M.J. The measurement of productive efficiency. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. A 1957, 120(3):253-290.
25. Gillen D., Morrison W. Bundling, integration and the delivered price of air travel: are low cost carriers full service competitors?. J. Air Transp. Manag. 2003, 9(1):15-23.
26. Gössling S., Peeters P., Scott D. Consequences of climate policy for international tourist arrivals in developing countries. Third World Q. 2008, 29(5):873-901.
27. Gössling S., Upham P. Climate Change and Aviation: Issues, Challenges and Solutions 2009, Earthscan, London, UK.
28. Greer M. Is it the labor unions' fault? Dissecting the causes of the impaired technical efficiencies of the legacy carriers in the United States. Transp. Res. A Policy Pract. 2009, 43(9-10):779-789.
29. Greer M.R. Nothing focuses the mind on productivity quite like the fear of liquidation: changes in airline productivity in the United States, 2000-2004. Transp. Res. A Policy Pract. 2008, 42(2):414-426.
30. Greer M.R. Are the discount carriers actually more efficient than the legacy carriers? A data envelopment analysis. Int. J. Transp. Econ. 2006, 33(1):37-55.
31. ICAO Kyoto protocol emphasizes ICAO's role in addressing greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://legacy.icao.int/icao/en/nr/1997/pio199725_e.pdf.
32. ICAO Dramatic MBM Agreement and Solid Global Plan Endorsements Help Deliver Landmark ICAO 38th Assembly Online available at:, (accessed on 12 April, 2014). http://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/mbm-agreement-solid-global-plan-endoresements.aspx.
33. Inglada V., Rey B., Rodríguez-Alvarez A., Coto-Millan P. Liberalisation and efficiency in international air transport. Transp. Res. A Policy Pract. 2006, 40(2):95-105.
34. IPCC Working Group 1: The Physical Basis of Climate Change, Final Report 2007, IPCC, Paris.
35. Jin J., Zhou D., Zhou P. Measuring environmental performance with stochastic environmental DEA: the case of APEC economies. Econ. Model. 2014, 38:80-86.
36. Jung E.J., Kim J.S., Rhee S.K. The measurement of corporate environmental performance and its application to the analysis of efficiency in oil industry. J. Clean. Prod. 2001, 9(6):551-563.
37. Koopmans T.C. An analysis of production as an efficient combination of activities. Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation 1951, 33-96. Wiley & Sons Inc., New York. T.C. Koopmans (Ed.).
38. Kumar-Mandal S., Madheswaran S. Environmental efficiency of the Indian cement industry: an interstate analysis. Energy Policy 2010, 38(2):1108-1118.
39. 2 and energy efficiency of different heating technologies in the Dutch glasshouse industry. Environ. Resour. Econ. 2003, 24(4):395-407.
40. Lu W.M. Intellectual capital and university performance in Taiwan. Econ. Model. 2012, 29:1081-1089.
41. 2 emission efficiency in OECD countries: application of the hybrid efficiency model. Econ. Model. 2013, 32:130-135.
42. Markovits-Somogyi R. Measuring efficiency in transport: the state of the art of applying data envelopment analysis. Transport 2011, 26(1):11-19.
43. Martin J.C., Roman C. An application of DEA to measure the efficiency of Spanish airports prior to privatization. J. Air Transp. Manag. 2001, 7(3):149-157.
44. Michaelides P.G., Belegri-Roboli A., Karlaftis M., Marinos T. International air transportation carriers: evidence from SFA and DEA technical efficiency results (1991-2000). Eur. J. Transp. Infrastruct. Res. 2009, 9(4):347-362.
45. Oum T.H., Fu X., Yu C. New evidences on airline efficiency and yields: a comparative analysis of major North American air carriers and its implications. Transp. Policy 2005, 12(2):153-164.
46. Ray S.C. The directional distance function and measurement of super-efficiency: an application to airlines data. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 2008, 59(6):788-797.
47. Rey B., Inglada V., Quirós C., Rodríguez-Álvarez A., Coto-Millán P. From European to Asian leadership in the economic efficiency of the world air industry. Appl. Econ. Lett. 2009, 16(2):203-209.
48. Schefczyk M. Operational performance of airlines: an extension of traditional measurement paradigms. Strateg. Manag. J. 1993, 14(4):301-317.
49. Scheraga C.A. Operational efficiency versus financial mobility in the global airline industry: a data envelopment and Tobit analysis. Transp. Res. A Policy Pract. 2004, 38(5):383-404.
50. Simar L., Wilson P. Statistical inference in nonparametric frontier models: the state of the art. J. Prod. Anal. 2000, 13(1):49-78.
51. Simar L., Wilson P.W. Sensitivity analysis of efficiency scores: how to bootstrap in nonparametric frontier models. Manag. Sci. 1998, 44(1):49-61.
52. Simar L., Wilson P.W. A general methodology for bootstrapping in non-parametric frontier models. J. Appl. Stat. 2000, 27(6):779-802.
53. Sueyoshi T., Goto M. Environmental assessment by DEA radial measurement: U.S. coal-fired power plants in ISO (Independent System Operator) and RTO (Regional Transmission Organization). Energy Econ. 2012, 34(3):663-676.
54. The Climate Group Delivering low carbon growth, a guide to China's 12th five year plan Online available at, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://www.theclimategroup.org/_assets/files/FINAL_14Mar11_-TCG_DELIVERING-LOW-CARBON-GROWTH-V3.pdf.
55. Tortosa-Ausina E., Grifell-Tatjé E., Armero C., Conesa D. Sensitivity analysis of efficiency and Malmquist productivity indices: an application to Spanish savings banks. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2008, 184(3):1062-1084.
56. Transport and Environment No flight plan: how the ICAO has blocked progress on climate change for a decade Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://www.transportenvironment.org/sites/te/files/media/2007-09_icao_climate_change.pdf.
57. Tyteca D. On the measurement of the environmental performance of firms - a literature review and a productive efficiency perspective. J. Environ. Manag. 1996, 46(3):281-308.
58. UNFCCC Kyoto protocol Online available at:, (accessed on 13 March, 2013). http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php.
59. Wang Q., Zhao Z., Zhou P., Zhou D. Energy efficiency and production technology heterogeneity in China: a meta-frontier DEA approach. Econ. Model. 2014, 35:283-289.
60. 2 reduction. Econ. Model. 2013, 35:1-9.
61. Yu M.M. Measuring physical efficiency of domestic airports in Taiwan with undesirable outputs and environmental factors. J. Air Transp. Manag. 2004, 10(5):295-303.
62. Zaim O. Measuring environmental performance of state manufacturing through changes in pollution intensities: a DEA framework. Ecol. Econ. 2004, 48(1):37-47.
63. Zhou P., Ang B.W., Poh K.L. Slacks-based efficiency measures for modeling environmental performance. Ecol. Econ. 2006, 60(1):111-118.
64. Zhou P., Ang B.W., Poh K.L. A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2008, 189(1):1-18.
65. Zhou P., Poh K.L., Ang B.W. A non-radial DEA approach to measuring environmental performance. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2007, 178(1):1-9.
66. Zhu J. Quantitative Models for Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking: Data Envelopment Analysis With Spreadsheets 2009, Springer Science Business Media, LLC, New York.
67. 2 emissions from OECD industries. Resour. Energy Econ. 2001, 23(1):63-83.