Financial Efficiency Analysis of Airports in Turkey by Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Indices

In this study, efficiencies of 42 airports between the years 2014 and 2018 which are affiliated to the General Directorate of State Airports Authority in Turkey were examined by Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Indices. As of 2018, Turkey has 56 airports open to civil air transport. However, due to the nature of Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Indices methods, airports with uninterrupted data have been selected over the years for the analysis to provide a sound result. Therefore, 42 airports with continuous data which are affiliated to the General Directorate of State Airports Authority have been included in the research. As a first step in the study, the efficiency values of the airports have been determined by means of Data Envelopment Analysis for a period of 5 years including 2018 starting from 2014. The airports that are efficient and not efficient are identified. According to the efficiency values of the last year, the airports which can be referenced for inefficient airports to be efficient were determined and by determining reference density values the results were tabulated. Then, as the second stage, with the help of Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Indices, the improvements in total factor productivity values of the airports during the analysis period have been revealed. Data envelopment analysis has been arranged under the assumption of input-oriented and constant returns to scale. In the analysis, five input values were determined: number of employees, operating expenses, terminal area (m2), number of runways and number of aprons. As output values, four values as passenger traffic, operating income, aircraft traffic and freight traffic are included in the analysis. Thorough evaluating of the results obtained from the analysis, it is aimed to contribute to the efforts to improve the performance of airports in Turkey.