The airline industry improved again this past year, according to this year's national Airline Quality Rating (AQR) study that was announced on April 7 in Washington D.C. The study, conducted by professors at Wichita State University and the University of Omaha, also said the majority of the largest airlines are performing at a higher level.

US Airways moved from second place last year to the top spot in this year's survey. Although Alaska Airlines' score improved from last year, they dropped from the top spot in last year's rankings to second place in the current study.

The AQR ranked the 10 major airlines as follows for 2002: 1) US Airways, 2) Alaska, 3) Southwest, 4) America West, 5) Continental, 6) American, 7) Delta, 8) United, 9) Northwest, and 10) American Eagle. TWA was purchased by American Airlines and no longer appears in the rankings.

The AQR is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for the largest domestic U.S. airlines operating during 2002. Co-researchers Brent Bowen, director and professor, University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Aviation Institute/School of Public Administration, and Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at Wichita State University (WSU), used 15 elements important to consumers when judging the quality of airline service.

The rating is conducted annually by the UNO Aviation Institute and the W. Frank Barton School of Business at WSU. 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 cooperative research project funded as part of faculty research activities at UNO and WSU.

"It's interesting to note that despite the financial problems faced by the industry, we are seeing marked improvements across the board," Bowen said. "Only one of the airlines (American Eagle) we ranked showed a noticeable decline. Eight others improved; one (Northwest) stayed virtually the same." The eight improved airlines are Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Southwest, United, and US Airways.

Bowen added that United Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 protection, registered the largest AQR score improvement.

"Airline quality has improved for the second consecutive year. That's a good thing, but it should have improved given that there are fewer passengers and fewer scheduled flights," Headley said. "A simpler system should make it easier to perform well. Let's hope the airlines can remember the importance of taking care of passengers when times get better."

Criteria included in the AQR are screened to meet two basic elements: 1) They must be readily obtainable from published data sources for each airline, and 2) 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 study include:

• As an industry, the on-time arrival percentage improved to 82.1 percent in 2002 compared to 77.4 percent in 2001.
• In a category where decreases are good, U.S. airlines mishandled 3.84 bags per 1,000 passengers, down from the 2001 rate of 4.55.
  
• There was a 16 percent improvement in the industry "bump rate." Only 0.72 passengers per 10,000 boardings were involuntarily bumped from a flight; the rate stood at .86 in last year's rankings.
  
• American Eagle was the only airline with a noticeable decline in its AQR score for 2002.

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