Studies on airport performance have focused primarily on productivity and operational efficiency. There are very few studies on airports’ financial viability and strength, especially those in the United States. Most of the U.S. commercial service airports are government-owned entities and operated for the service of the community rather than for profit, but expected to be financially self-sufficient and raise capital funds mainly through the bond markets. However, past studies of the financial performance of U.S. airports have relied on traditional profitability measures and financial efficiency measures that are more appropriate for airports owned and operated by for-profit entities. Based on the literature for non-profit organizations and the practices of credit rating agencies and government oversight bodies, this paper adopts six pertinent financial performance metrics to measure and compare the operational financial performance, leverage, and liquidity of 60 large and medium commercial service airports in the United States during the 2010–2017 period. The paper further examines factors that may affect airport financial performance. The results reveal that large hub airports have better liquidity while medium airports have better leverage during the study period. These results suggest that the effect of airport size on financial performance is inconclusive. Regression analysis shows that airports with high productive efficiency and those without a dominant carrier tend to have more surplus revenues for meeting their operational financial needs and capital spending and have better liquidity. The paper highlights the importance of using appropriate metrics to evaluate the financial performance of public sector entities and provides relevant information to bond investors. The devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on airports accentuate the significance of leverage and liquidity. Therefore, the financial metrics discussed in this paper would help support public policy debates and allocate public funds to the airports.

对机场绩效的研究主要集中在生产力和运营效率上。关于机场财务可行性和实力的研究很少，尤其是在美国。美国的商业服务机场大多为政府所有，以服务社会而非盈利为目的运营，但预计财务自给自足，主要通过债券市场筹集资金。然而，过去对美国机场财务业绩的研究依赖于更适合营利性实体拥有和运营的机场的传统盈利能力衡量标准和财务效率衡量标准。根据非营利组织的文献以及信用评级机构和政府监督机构的做法，本文采用六个相关的财务绩效指标来衡量和比较美国 60 家大中型商业服务机场在 2010-2017 年期间的运营财务绩效、杠杆和流动性。本文进一步研究了可能影响机场财务业绩的因素。结果表明，在研究期间，大型枢纽机场具有更好的流动性，而中型机场具有更好的杠杆作用。这些结果表明，机场规模对财务绩效的影响尚无定论。回归分析表明，生产效率高的机场和没有主导承运人的机场往往有更多的盈余收入来满足其运营财务需求和资本支出，并且具有更好的流动性。该文件强调了使用适当指标评估公共部门实体财务业绩的重要性，并向债券投资者提供相关信息。COVID-19 大流行对机场的破坏性影响凸显了杠杆和流动性的重要性。因此，本文中讨论的财务指标将有助于支持公共政策辩论并将公共资金分配给机场。