Keeping your fleet on the ground: European airports in transition

Abstract

As European airport managers address the transition from public ownership to modern businesses, this paper sets out to utilise several organisational variables as measures of their progress. The impact of commercialisation, liberalisation and low-cost carriers has resulted in airport managers dealing with new and complex challenges. Variables were selected on the basis of increased usage in the private sector and linked to ownership structure for 98 European airports. Entrepreneurial orientation, organic organisation structure and rational strategic decision-making are assessed for their relationship with type of ownership. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation and organic organisational structures are positively related to higher levels of private ownership but that rational strategic decision-making is not. Implications for management are considered along with recommendations for future research.