Pre- and post-deregulation financial performance and efficiency inUS Airlines

摘要

The productivity of the airline industry has increased over timeafter deregulation. Longer flights, higher aircraft utilization rates,along with more fuel efficient aircraft, and operational plans designedto economize fuel are major reasons to expect better productivityperformance in the airline industry. This achievement cannot be realizedunless technological changes in the aircraft manufacturing and in themanagement practices of airline companies take place. The productivityperformance of airlines should also be reflected in stock market pricesand (nonnegatively) in returns for companies providing the airlines withequipment and other services. We investigate the effects of moreappropriate technology and their equity market impacts for majorcommercial airlines. We examine the distributions of returns before,during and after deregulation to see whether deregulation has increasedor decreased risk. We also examine the relationships between stockreturns and prices, and data envelopment analysis (DEA) and total factorproductivity (TFP) measures of efficiency. This information aboutexpected stock market effects of deregulation and efficiency can clarifythe choices faced by managers of technological change and bypolicymakers