Modellers have in the past concentrated their attention on two main aspects of airport performance. In the early years of economic analysis of airports, attention was focused on congestion processes and costs, and the merits of different options, such as pricing, administrative controls, and investments as means of reducing these costs. This type of model has attracted much less interest of late. Currently, most effort is being directed towards developing models of productive efficiency measurement. Airports have been a late area for application of such techniques as total factor productivity, data envelopment analysis, and cost or production frontiers, which have been common in other transport and utility industries for some years. There is a small, though rapidly growing, literature in this aspect of modelling. Here, attention is focused on these two types of modelling effort. Most of the models discussed have some numerical component, either in the form of econometric estimation, simulation of results based on assumed parameter values, or calculation of productivity or efficiency. Most of these models also have intended relevance for policy. The earlier, demand-congestion-pricing models are considered first, after which performance-measurement models are considered.
Abstract