Estimating returns to scale of Chinese airport airside activities using the CCR-0-objective RTS method

The returns to scale (RTS) nature of 41 Chinese airport airsides is investigated in this paper. We introduce take-off distance available and landing distance available into RTS estimation. To deal with the existence of multiple optimal solutions when estimating RTS using the CCR (Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes) RTS method in Data Envelopment Analysis, we introduce the CCR-0-objective RTS method. The empirical study shows that all those airsides with two runway operate under decreasing RTS. Those airsides with only one runway either show constant RTS or show increasing RTS.