Evaluating efficiency of airlines: A new robust DEA approach with undesirable output

Abstract Transportation plays an important role in development of countries and linking different sectors of economy. Efficiency evaluating is also an essential part in the process of controlling an organization and evaluating its performance. Therefore, evaluating the efficiency of transportation industry, especially air transport, as the fastest and most expensive one, has particular importance in today's competitive world. Paying attention to this issue can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of transport policies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of airlines using a new robust data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. In this manuscript, slack-based measure (SBM) model is developed by adding undesirable outputs and uncertainty to consider real-world situations. Then the proposed model is implemented in a real case study and the efficiency of 14 Iranian airlines is calculated. The results revealed that using a non-robust model; Mahan, Taban, Pouya Air and Caspian are efficient airlines, respectively, while using the new robust model, all efficiency values are reduced and also their efficiency scores were less than one.