SUMMARY
Studies about airport operational efficiency models generally disregard the correlation between operational efficiencies and economic drivers. The goal of this study is, firstly, to isolate and detail the key economic drivers and then find their efficient frontier. The methodology employed was Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a non-parametric and linear programming model. It provides relative measures of efficiency using multiple inputs and outputs for a given Decision-Making Unit (DMU) without requiring a prior production function. The number of variables in this study was limited in function of the DMUs analyzed, which consisted of the following Brazilian airports: Congonhas Airport (CGH), Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) and Viracopos International Airport (VCP). Two of the airports, GRU and VCP, were found to be efficient considering this study’s combination of very limited variables, meaning that theses airports, from this isolated standpoint, are maximizing their commercial, passenger parking and marketing revenues, given their terminal area and the number of yearly passengers.