Air Tran has taken the top spot in the 18th annual national Airline Quality Ratings (AQR) study. Last year, Air Tran ranked third in the AQR. Following Air Tran in the top five of the AQR were Jet
Blue, Southwest, Northwest and Frontier.
 As far as an overall rating for the industry, this is the worst AQR score ever, according to the AQR researchers. The second worst was for calendar year 2000. There are similarities between 2000 and 2007, specifically: during both 2000 and 2007
there was talk of the United States heading into a recession; the airlines were making money after a nonprofitable period; and demand for air travel was strong.
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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