Measurement of Total Factor Productivity in Commercial Airlines Sector using Malmquist Index and Data Envelopment Model

Abstract

This study attempts to measure productivity change of Airlines companies in private and public sector in India for a period of four years (2011-2016). In this study the nature and productivity change is probed using the Malmquist Productivity Index. This index has the constituents which are used to measure the performance in terms of change in Scale Efficiency, change in Technical Efficiency, change in Technological Change and Total Factor Productivity. The paper compares efficiencies for the companies in public and private commercial airlines sector in India. Five Airlines companies are included in the study. The research includes Total Annual Income as an output variable and Total Expenditure, Employee Compensation, Sales & Distribution Expenditure and Marketing expenses as Input variables. A panel data with 30 observations has been used for analysis. The panel data is used to arrive to MPI estimates, with a total of five commercial airlines companies in India. The Total Factor Productivity change in the airlines sector depends upon the change in the efficiency and productivity of the companies. From the study it is evident that the Total Factor Productivity change has not changed significantly over the last six years for all the companies under study. The Technical Efficiency was the highest in the year 2013-14 which then dropped in the subsequent year. The Total Factor Productivity change is mainly due to change in scale efficiency of the companies since the pure efficiency has shown no significant change during the period under study. The Total Factor Efficiency dropped by almost 50% in the case of Air India in the year 2015-16. This drop is attributed to the deterioration in the technical efficiency of the company. The overall Total Factor Productivity of Air India is the highest. This can be attributed to positive change in the company’s Technical Efficiency especially in the year 2013-14. It is evident that all the airlines companies under study have not emphasized on improving scale efficiency as well as pure efficiency. These companies can improve their overall productivity by bringing in efficiency in the scale of operations as well as focus on improving efficiency on factors other than scale of operations. The commercial airlines companies in India need to improve their scale efficiency and pure efficiency to improve their total factor productivity.