Airline service falls in the US
Airline service in the US is getting worse and only one major carrier was among those ranked best for performance, according to a new survey.
The Airline Quality Rating study evaluated the top 16 airlines which carried at least one per cent of the 630 million passengers who flew in the US last year. It found only four, AirTran, Atlantic Southeast, JetBlue and United, performed better than in 2003 and 2004.
JetBlue was again ranked as offering the best overall service and five of the top six carriers were no-frills airlines. United Airlines, at number four, was the best performing major airline.
Service is getting worse because more people are flying at a time when carriers have slashed their work forces, said Dean Headley, a co-author of the study.
“Morale’s going to be down and they’re not going to care if they get the bags to the loading dock in five minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes,” he said.
The seven largest carriers employed 12% fewer people in January 2004 than the year before, according to the Federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Mr Headley said more people and aircraft were flying than they did in the two years after the September 11 attacks but the aviation infrastructure was essentially the same as it was in the delay-plagued era just before the hijackings.
On-time performance in the US worsened last year, with 78.3% of flights arriving on time, down from 82% in 2003.
Phil Davies
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