AirTran Tops Airline List in Down Year

AirTran Airways earned the highest ranking, but overall the airline industry slipped in performance in 2007, an annual Wichita State University study indicated.

AirTran improved its on-time performance to 76.8 percent from 74.6 percent in 2006, and its denied boarding performance was the second lowest among 18 airlines studied, the report said. Complaints were up, but its mishandled baggage rate improved on the year, the report said.

But, overall, the industry slipped in on-time arrival — down to 73 percent in 2007 — involuntary denied boardings per passenger and mishandled baggage rates, the report released Monday said.

I don’t expect to see better airline performance in the near future, said co-author Dean E. Headley of the W. Frank Barton School of Business. The airlines are losing money. Fuel prices are high. They’re cutting back on services. They’re cutting back on people, he said.

In the rankings Jet Blue came in second, followed by Southwest, Northwest, Frontier and Continental.