In this paper we analyze the effect of the type of ownership -private, mixed, and public- as well as the market structure -liberalized and regulated- on the technical efficiency levels of a set of commercial airlines. In order to calculate these efficiency scores, we use Data Envelopment Analysis and define hyperbolic efficiency measures on a graph representation of the technology. This research, a pioneer in the empirical projection and analysis of such measures, shows how private ownership, along with a liberalized market, tends to improve efficiency as compared to those companies that operate in regulated markets. However, given a regulated market structure, private companies exhibit greater inefficiency that mixed capital companies and these, like the first, are more inefficient that public ones.

Keywords: technical efficiency, DEA, firm ownership, market structure, airline industry.
JEL clasiffication: C61, D21, L22, L93