In this paper we study the relationship between airport efficiency and two factors: anairport’s centrality in the EU network, and the intensity of competition from alternativeairports in the same catchment area. We apply a two-stage econometric model based on theSimar & Wilson (2007) bootstrap procedure to a balanced sample of 57 European airports.We also design and compute our own measures of airport centrality and competition. Theresults show that efficiency is positively related to centrality in the European network, asmeasured by a weighted sum of minimal paths passing through the airport in question. Theintensity of competition between airports also has a positive effect on efficiency. Ouranalysis suggests that air transportation policies should focus on increasing competitionwithin important catchment areas (e.g., by investing in infrastructure facilitating access toalternative airports) and enhancing the connectivity of the EU network (e.g., by subsidizingnew point-to-point connections between airports with capacity to spare).
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