Airline Quality Ratings Published, Industry At New Low

The AQR is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for the largest domestic U.S. airlines operating during 2007. Co-researchers Brent Bowen, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Aviation Institute/School of Public Administration, and Dean Headley, associate professor and chair of marketing at Wichita State University (WSU), used 15 elements important to consumers when judging the quality of airline service. Air Tran gained ground in the industry and in the ratings because of superior baggage handling. Taken as an entire industry, the airlines declined in all areas of performance, Bowen said.

Sixteen airlines were studied for the 2008 ratings report. The Airline Report Card is a unique figure that shows each airlines' individual rating since the AQR began 18 years ago. This visual aid offers invaluable historical reporting opportunities, Bowen said. It is available on-line at aqr.aero Researchers at the UNO Aviation Institute and the W. Frank Barton School of Business at WSU conduct the ratings annually. The AQR, as an industry standard, provides consumers and industry watchers a means to compare quality among airlines using objective performance-based data. It is a joint research project funded as part of faculty research activities at UNO and WSU. "With the U.S. airline industry at rock-bottom in terms of overall performance, greater accountability is necessary. It is very difficult for air travel consumers to have a collective voice," Bowen said. "The AQR.aero research team is providing new mechanisms for the everyday passenger to be heard."

The AQR scores for the largest airlines for 2007 resulted in the following ranking:

1. Air Tran
2. Jet Blue
3. Southwest
4. Northwest
5. Frontier
6. Continental
7. Alaska
8. United
9. American
10. Delta
11. US Airways
12. Mesa
13. SkyWest
14. Comair
15. American Eagle
16. Atlantic Southeast

Criteria included in the AQR are screened to meet two basic elements: They must be readily obtainable from published data sources for each airline, and they must be important to consumers regarding airline quality. The resulting criteria include areas such as baggage handling, customer complaints, denied boardings and on-time arrivals.

Other major industry findings in this year's research study include: Only four of the 16 airlines improved their AQR score. They were Air Tran, American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast and Mesa. The most improved airline was Mesa; it improved in three of the four categories, denied boardings, mishandled bags and customer complaints. Its on-time performance was similar to last year. The airline that declined the most in performance was US Airways.

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