Winning Wingers

Quest for Quality - Air Carriers

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 8/1/2006

According to LM readers, airlines and air express carriers reach the upper stratosphere of quality when they consistently deliver freight on-time while providing first-class customer service. If our results are any indication, it appears that the vast majority of 2006 Air Carrier top guns understand how to achieve quality service for the long run.

As a matter for fact, Southwest Airlines, Singapore Airlines, KLM, Japan Airlines, and Korean Air all take the podium for the third year in a row. Cathy Pacific, Lufthansa, Air Canada, and Nippon Cargo Airlines have taken home the gold in two of the last three years. Cargolux, Lan Cargo, and American Airlines have been welcomed into the winner’s circle this year after missing the list in 2004 and 2005.

While the overall weighted average in the air carriers category lost a little altitude this year, dropping from 33.68 to 32.03, the average Customer Service score did show some minor improvement, nudging up to 5.78 from last year’s 5.71. Southwest Airlines beat everyone to the gate with an impressive 38.45 weighted average, 2.9 points ahead of the next-best score, which was turned in by Cathay Pacific.

When asked to define the characteristics of a first-rate air express carrier, one reader provided this description: “That’s easy. All we’re looking for is excellent worldwide service and complete competence in all areas of delivery and tracking.”

That’s a tall order indeed; however there are two air express carriers that seem to battle it out for the top spot year after year: FedEx Express and UPS. While Big Brown came out the winner in the value column, Memphis-based rival FedEx eked out the win in the other four attribute categories to score a total 37.19 weighted score—just a whisper above the 36.46 average shippers handed to UPS.

Regardless of their individual scores, these two heavy hitters take the stage for the third consecutive year after achieving yet another impressive overall performance in the eyes of the shipper community.

Air Carriers (color chart)

Airlines	On-Time Performance	Value	Information Technology	Customer Service	Equipment & Operations	Weighted Score
Southwest Airlines	12.69	9.62	4.52	7.41	4.21	38.45
Cathay Pacific	12.12	8.37	4.92	6.38	3.76	35.55
Singapore Airlines (SIA)	11.59	8.39	4.87	6.60	3.69	35.14
Cargolux	12.09	8.99	4.56	5.40	3.66	34.69
Lufthansa	11.33	7.80	5.09	6.34	3.98	34.54
Lan Cargo	11.16	7.86	4.77	7.00	3.66	34.45
KLM	11.24	8.04	4.69	6.49	3.76	34.22
Japan Airlines	12.01	7.18	4.68	5.95	3.84	33.66
Air Canada	10.74	8.28	4.61	6.13	3.43	33.20
American Airlines	10.90	7.92	4.59	5.60	3.48	32.49
Nippon Cargo Airlines	10.74	7.97	4.84	5.60	3.20	32.35
Korean Air	10.04	8.51	4.53	5.60	3.54	32.22
AVERAGE	10.50	7.80	4.47	5.78	3.47	32.03
Air Express Carriers
	On-timePerformance	Value	Information Technology	Customer Service	Equipment &Operations	Weighted Score
FedEx Express	12.63	8.08	5.80	6.56	4.13	37.19
UPS	12.09	8.40	5.68	6.28	4.01	36.46
AVERAGE	11.20	8.22	5.10	5.94	3.80	34.25
All scores are weighted. Weighted scores are determined by multiplying the average raw scores by the average importance of each attribute (1 = least important; 5 = most important). To find the attributed weights for this category, see the introduction to the Quest for Quality report. Source: Logistics Management, Reed Research Group