IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transe/v81y2015icp1-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating airline efficiency: An application of Virtual Frontier Network SBM

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Ye
  • Wang, Yan-zhang
  • Cui, Qiang

Abstract

In this paper, airline efficiency is divided into three stages: Operations Stage, Services Stage and Sales Stage. The new three-stage strategic operating framework of airline efficiency is a modification of existing models. A new model, Virtual Frontier Network SBM, is proposed to evaluate the efficiency of 22 international airlines from 2008 to 2012. The results demonstrate the following: 1. The new model can apply to a new benchmarking airline such as Scandinavian Airlines. 2. Although passenger traffic, cargo traffic and revenue decreased from 2008 to 2009, most airlines’ overall efficiency increased in the period.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Ye & Wang, Yan-zhang & Cui, Qiang, 2015. "Evaluating airline efficiency: An application of Virtual Frontier Network SBM," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:81:y:2015:i:c:p:1-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2015.06.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554515001283
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tre.2015.06.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greer, Mark, 2009. "Is it the labor unions' fault? Dissecting the causes of the impaired technical efficiencies of the legacy carriers in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(9-10), pages 779-789, November.
    2. Ehrlich, Isaac & Georges Gallais-Hamonno & Zhiqiang Liu & Randall Lutter, 1994. "Productivity Growth and Firm Ownership: An Analytical and Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 1006-1038, October.
    3. Tone, Kaoru & Tsutsui, Miki, 2009. "Network DEA: A slacks-based measure approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(1), pages 243-252, August.
    4. Inglada, Vicente & Rey, Belen & Rodri­guez-Alvarez, Ana & Coto-Millan, Pablo, 2006. "Liberalisation and efficiency in international air transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 95-105, February.
    5. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    6. Tim Coelli & Sergio Perelman & Elliot Romano, 1999. "Accounting for Environmental Influences in Stochastic Frontier Models: With Application to International Airlines," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 251-273, June.
    7. Baltagi, Badi H & Griffin, James M & Rich, Daniel P, 1995. "Airline Deregulation: The Cost Pieces of the Puzzle," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 36(1), pages 245-260, February.
    8. Sickles, Robin C. & Good, David & Johnson, Richard L., 1986. "Allocative distortions and the regulatory transition of the U.S. airline industry," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 143-163.
    9. Cui, Qiang & Kuang, Hai-bo & Wu, Chun-you & Li, Ye, 2013. "Dynamic formation mechanism of airport competitiveness: The case of China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 10-18.
    10. Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan, 1998. "Cost competitiveness of major airlines: an international comparison," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 407-422, August.
    11. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Peypoch, Nicolas, 2009. "An evaluation of European airlines' operational performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 525-533, December.
    12. Cui, Qiang & Li, Ye, 2015. "Evaluating energy efficiency for airlines: An application of VFB-DEA," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 44, pages 34-41.
    13. Ila Alam & Robin Sickles, 1998. "The Relationship Between Stock Market Returns and Technical Efficiency Innovations: Evidence from the US Airline Industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 35-51, January.
    14. Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C, 1984. "Production Frontiers and Panel Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 2(4), pages 367-374, October.
    15. Cui, Qiang & Li, Ye, 2015. "An empirical study on the influencing factors of transportation carbon efficiency: Evidences from fifteen countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 209-217.
    16. Arjomandi, Amir & Seufert, Juergen Heinz, 2014. "An evaluation of the world's major airlines' technical and environmental performance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 133-144.
    17. Chiu, Yung-Ho & Chen, Yu-Chuan, 2009. "The analysis of Taiwanese bank efficiency: Incorporating both external environment risk and internal risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 456-463, March.
    18. Good, David H. & Roller, Lars-Hendrik & Sickles, Robin C., 1995. "Airline efficiency differences between Europe and the US: Implications for the pace of EC integration and domestic regulation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 508-518, February.
    19. Alam, Ila M Semenick & Sickles, Robin C, 2000. "Time Series Analysis of Deregulatory Dynamics and Technical Efficiency: The Case of the U.S. Airline Industry," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(1), pages 203-218, February.
    20. Zou, Bo & Elke, Matthew & Hansen, Mark & Kafle, Nabin, 2014. "Evaluating air carrier fuel efficiency in the US airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 306-330.
    21. Cui, Qiang & Kuang, Hai-bo & Wu, Chun-you & Li, Ye, 2014. "The changing trend and influencing factors of energy efficiency: The case of nine countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1026-1034.
    22. Robin Sickles & David Good & Lullit Getachew, 2002. "Specification of Distance Functions Using Semi- and Nonparametric Methods with an Application to the Dynamic Performance of Eastern and Western European Air Carriers," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 133-155, January.
    23. Liu, Fuh-Hwa Franklin & Wang, Peng-hsiang, 2008. "DEA Malmquist productivity measure: Taiwanese semiconductor companies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 367-379, March.
    24. Greer, Mark R., 2008. "Nothing focuses the mind on productivity quite like the fear of liquidation: Changes in airline productivity in the United States, 2000-2004," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 414-426, February.
    25. Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan, 1995. "A productivity comparison of the world's major airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 181-195.
    26. David Good & M. Nadiri & Lars-Hendrik Röller & Robin Sickles, 1993. "Efficiency and productivity growth comparisons of European and U.S. Air carriers: A first look at the data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 115-125, June.
    27. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Wanke, Peter, 2015. "An analysis of African airlines efficiency with two-stage TOPSIS and neural networks," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 44, pages 90-102.
    28. Tavassoli, Mohammad & Faramarzi, Gholam Reza & Farzipoor Saen, Reza, 2014. "Efficiency and effectiveness in airline performance using a SBM-NDEA model in the presence of shared input," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 146-153.
    29. Barbot, Cristina & Costa, Ã lvaro & Sochirca, Elena, 2008. "Airlines performance in the new market context: A comparative productivity and efficiency analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 270-274.
    30. I. Ehrlich & Georges Gallais-Hamonno & Zh Liu & R. Lutter, 1994. "Productivy Growth & Firm Ownership : an Analytical & Empirical Investigation," Post-Print halshs-00276861, HAL.
    31. Assaf, A. George & Josiassen, Alexander, 2012. "European vs. U.S. airlines: Performance comparison in a dynamic market," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 317-326.
    32. Bhadra, Dipasis, 2009. "Race to the bottom or swimming upstream: Performance analysis of US airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 227-235.
    33. Tone, Kaoru & Tsutsui, Miki, 2010. "Dynamic DEA: A slacks-based measure approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 145-156, June.
    34. Lee, Boon L. & Worthington, Andrew C., 2014. "Technical efficiency of mainstream airlines and low-cost carriers: New evidence using bootstrap data envelopment analysis truncated regression," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 15-20.
    35. Sebastián Lozano & Ester Gutiérrez, 2014. "A slacks-based network DEA efficiency analysis of European airlines," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(7), pages 623-637, October.
    36. Chiou, Yu-Chiun & Chen, Yen-Heng, 2006. "Route-based performance evaluation of Taiwanese domestic airlines using data envelopment analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 116-127, March.
    37. Ray, Subhash C & Mukherjee, Kankana, 1996. "Decomposition of the Fisher Ideal Index of Productivity: A Non-parametric Dual Analysis of US Airlines Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(439), pages 1659-1678, November.
    38. Sengupta, Jati K., 1999. "A dynamic efficiency model using data envelopment analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 209-218, September.
    39. Oum, Tae Hoon & Fu, Xiaowen & Yu, Chunyan, 2005. "New evidences on airline efficiency and yields: a comparative analysis of major North American air carriers and its implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 153-164, March.
    40. Wang, Wei-Kang & Lu, Wen-Min & Tsai, Chia-Jen, 2011. "The relationship between airline performance and corporate governance amongst US Listed companies," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 148-152.
    41. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Couto, Eduardo, 2013. "Productivity analysis of European airlines, 2000–2011," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 11-13.
    42. Merkert, Rico & Hensher, David A., 2011. "The impact of strategic management and fleet planning on airline efficiency - A random effects Tobit model based on DEA efficiency scores," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 686-695, August.
    43. Barros, Carlos P. & Liang, Qi Bin & Peypoch, Nicolas, 2013. "The technical efficiency of US Airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 139-148.
    44. Ouellette, Pierre & Petit, Patrick & Tessier-Parent, Louis-Philippe & Vigeant, Stéphane, 2010. "Introducing regulation in the measurement of efficiency, with an application to the Canadian air carriers industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 216-226, January.
    45. Veronique Distexhe & Sergio Perelman, 1994. "Technical Efficiency and Productivity Growth in an Era of Deregulation: the Case of Airlines," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 130(IV), pages 669-689, December.
    46. Cornwell, Christopher & Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C., 1990. "Production frontiers with cross-sectional and time-series variation in efficiency levels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1-2), pages 185-200.
    47. Mallikarjun, Sreekanth, 2015. "Efficiency of US airlines: A strategic operating model," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 46-56.
    48. Lu, Wen-Min & Wang, Wei-Kang & Hung, Shiu-Wan & Lu, En-Tzu, 2012. "The effects of corporate governance on airline performance: Production and marketing efficiency perspectives," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 529-544.
    49. Capobianco, Heloisa Márcia Pires & Fernandes, Elton, 2004. "Capital structure in the world airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 421-434, July.
    50. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    51. Douglas W. Caves & Laurits R. Christensen & Michael W. Tretheway, 1984. "Economies of Density versus Economies of Scale: Why Trunk and Local Service Airline Costs Differ," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 471-489, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Ye & Wang, Yan-zhang & Cui, Qiang, 2016. "Has airline efficiency affected by the inclusion of aviation into European Union Emission Trading Scheme? Evidences from 22 airlines during 2008–2012," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 8-22.
    2. Mallikarjun, Sreekanth, 2015. "Efficiency of US airlines: A strategic operating model," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 46-56.
    3. Ye Li & Qiang Cui, 2017. "Airline energy efficiency measures using the Virtual Frontier Network RAM with weak disposability," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 479-504, May.
    4. Seufert, Juergen Heinz & Arjomandi, Amir & Dakpo, K. Hervé, 2017. "Evaluating airline operational performance: A Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen productivity indicator," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 52-68.
    5. Wanke, Peter & Barros, C.P., 2016. "Efficiency in Latin American airlines: A two-stage approach combining Virtual Frontier Dynamic DEA and Simplex Regression," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 93-103.
    6. Cui, Qiang & Li, Ye, 2017. "Airline efficiency measures under CNG2020 strategy: An application of a Dynamic By-production model," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 130-143.
    7. Wanke, Peter & Pestana Barros, Carlos & Chen, Zhongfei, 2015. "An analysis of Asian airlines efficiency with two-stage TOPSIS and MCMC generalized linear mixed models," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 110-126.
    8. Cui, Qiang & Li, Ye & Yu, Chen-lu & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Evaluating energy efficiency for airlines: An application of Virtual Frontier Dynamic Slacks Based Measure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1231-1240.
    9. Cui, Qiang & Li, Ye, 2017. "Airline efficiency measures using a Dynamic Epsilon-Based Measure model," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 121-134.
    10. Xu, Xin & Cui, Qiang, 2017. "Evaluating airline energy efficiency: An integrated approach with Network Epsilon-based Measure and Network Slacks-based Measure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 274-286.
    11. Heshmati, Almas & C. Kumbhakar, Subal & Kim, Jungsuk, 2016. "Persistent and Transient Efficiency of International Airlines," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 444, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    12. Tsionas, Mike G. & Chen, Zhongfei & Wanke, Peter, 2017. "A structural vector autoregressive model of technical efficiency and delays with an application to Chinese airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-10.
    13. Barros, Carlos P. & Liang, Qi Bin & Peypoch, Nicolas, 2013. "The technical efficiency of US Airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 139-148.
    14. Kottas, Angelos T. & Madas, Michael A., 2018. "Comparative efficiency analysis of major international airlines using Data Envelopment Analysis: Exploring effects of alliance membership and other operational efficiency determinants," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-17.
    15. Yakath Ali, Nurul Syuhadah & Yu, Chunyan & See, Kok Fong, 2021. "Four decades of airline productivity and efficiency studies: A review and bibliometric analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    16. Boon L Lee & Clevo Wilson & Carl A Pasurka, Jr, 2013. "The Good, the Bad and the Efficient: Productivity, efficiency and technical change in the Airline Industry, 2004:2008," School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series 299, School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology.
    17. Chen, Zhongfei & Wanke, Peter & Antunes, Jorge Junio Moreira & Zhang, Ning, 2017. "Chinese airline efficiency under CO2 emissions and flight delays: A stochastic network DEA model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 89-108.
    18. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Wanke, Peter, 2015. "An analysis of African airlines efficiency with two-stage TOPSIS and neural networks," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 44, pages 90-102.
    19. Chen, Zhongfei & Tzeremes, Panayiotis & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2018. "Convergence in the Chinese airline industry: A Malmquist productivity analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 77-86.
    20. Li, Ye & Cui, Qiang, 2017. "Carbon neutral growth from 2020 strategy and airline environmental inefficiency: A Network Range Adjusted Environmental Data Envelopment Analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 13-24.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:81:y:2015:i:c:p:1-17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.