Influence of ownership forms in airport´s efficiency

Abstract

In its most basic definition an airport is a location where aircraft take off and land, this definition lies far away from what an airport really represents in broader terms. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization airports are an essential part of a country’s economy within which they are situated. They can be considered as engines of growth for their local, regional and national economies. Airports, as any other type of organization, must be able to collect satisfactory revenues in order to finance investments and operations and as a result being able to contribute to the economy. Airports around the world started to face a more competitive environment as a result of the liberalization and deregulation process that started in the United Kingdom under the Margaret Thatcher administration, this period was a benchmark for all the international privatization processes. During this period the privatization of the English airports acquired by the Spanish group BAA led to a series of worldwide privatization processes like in Mexico, Argentina, Italy and Greece. These changes led to the emergence of diverse governance forms due to the apparent benefits they seemed to bring. As a result a series of questions regarding the contribution or efficiency of ownership forms started to emerge. Ownership form contributes to the better performance of airports? May this have a direct impact over the economy? Over the organization, region or country? This analytical study further develops these questions and analyses the performance of the main four ownership forms in French airports: public, majorly public, private, majorly private.