Southwest Ranks First In Airline Study
Southwest Airlines' emphasis on customer service has helped it capture the top position in the annual Airline Quality Rating study for the second consecutive year.
The survey, conducted jointly by Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, ranks the nine major airlines using a weighted tabulation of 19 publicly available statistics, such as on-time performance, frequent flyer award programs and financial stability. Taken together, these factors indicate a carrier's ability to provide quality performance to its customers.
The carriers, in order of their AQR ranking for 1996, are Southwest, American, United, Delta, Continental, Northwest, US Airways, America West and TWA. The ranking for 1995 was Southwest, American, United, Delta, America West, Northwest, US Airways, TWA and Continental.
Continued financial recovery throughout the industry was a key finding of the 1996 survey, according to co-researchers Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at WSU, and Brent Bowen, director of the University of Nebraska Aviation Institute. Moreover, the two researchers said that Continental Airlines was the most improved airline in 1996, pointing out that the carrier ranked last place in 1995.