WASHINGTON — Delta Air Lines soared to the top of new airline quality ratings released Monday, knocking Southwest Airlines out of the No. 1 perch down to No. 3.

That's according to an annual academic study by the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute. It was released at the National Press Club.

The study looks at factors from lost baggage to on-time arrival, denied boardings and complaints made to the government.

The 10 national airlines in order of quality were: 1. Delta; 2. Alaska Airlines; 3. Southwest; 4. U.S. Airways; 5. Northwest; 6. American; 7. Continental; 8. TWA; 9. United; and 10. America West.

The report also contained on-time performance ratings for each month for the nation's 30 busiest airports.

Salt Lake City International had the best on-time departure ratings for all 30 airports in April (87.1 percent) and May (84.7 percent) last year. It finished third-best three other times (in June July and September). It finished fourth-best twice (in January and August).

It didn't do so well in other months. It finished sixth in February; 11th in March; 13th in October; 14th in November; and 22nd in December. The study did not compute annual on-time percentages.

The study said that Delta, which operates a regional hub in Salt Lake City, was one of only three airlines in the top 10 with improved service ratings in 2000. The others were Alaska Airlines and U.S. Airways.

Southwest, which has the second-largest operation at Salt Lake City International, was among those airlines that saw quality drop, allowing Delta to capture the top spot.

Dean Headley, co-author of the study, said consumer frustration with the airline industry overall is increasing.

"They promised to do better in 2000, and they didn't. Consumers are fed up with unkept promises, and it's registered through a record number of complaints and poor performance in basic services," he said.

Delta had the best rating among major U.S. airlines for the number of involuntarily denied boardings — 0.33 per 10,000 passengers. That was almost five times lower than its rate last year, the improvement most responsible for helping it capture the top quality rating.

Meanwhile, the number of involuntarily denied boardings on Southwest rose from 1.38 to 1.89 per 10,000 passengers. It finished ninth out of the 10 major airlines in that category.

Delta finished second (to Alaska Airlines) in the amount of mishandled baggage. It had 4.49 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. Southwest ranked fourth best, mishandling 5 bags per 1,000 customers.

Southwest had the best ranking among all airlines for complaints filed by consumers with the federal government — 0.47 per 100,000 customers. Delta was second with 2.01 per 100,000 customers.

Both Delta and Southwest had mediocre grades for on-time arrival. Delta ranked fourth of 10 with an on-time arrival rate of 75.3 percent, and Southwest was barely behind it at fifth with a 75.2 percent rate.

Continental had the highest on-time percentage, at 78.1. United was the worst, at 61.4 percent.

The study noted that Delta "had the second largest improvement of all airlines (behind Alaska Airlines), even with declines in performance for on-time arrivals, mishandled bags and customer complaints. . . . (Still) with most of the other airlines showing performance declines, Delta moved up to the top position."

About Southwest, the study said it "recorded the second largest decrease (4.8 percent) in on-time arrival percentage. . . . Involuntary denied boarding rates, mishandled baggage rates, and customer complaint rates were all worse in 2000."

But it noted that Southwest still "has, by far, the lowest (complaint) rate of any of the 10major carriers."

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Other major national findings in the report include:

The average on-time arrival nationally declined from 76.1 percent in 1999 to 72.6 percent in 2000.

The 10 major airlines averaged 5.29 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers in 2000, up from 5.08 in 1999.

The federal government receives 2.98 customer complaints about airlines per 100,000 passengers.

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