America West Airlines announced today that it ranked second among the
major airlines in three out of four categories of operational performance
as reported in the Department of Transportation`s (DOT) Air Travel
Consumer Report for December 2003. The airline`s on-time performance,
completion factor and customer complaints were the second best among the
major airlines, earning employees a fifth $50 performance bonus in seven
months.
The airline`s customer complaints decreased by 67 percent year-over-year
to just 0.36 complaints per 100,000 customers, which is the lowest number
of complaints the airline has reported since 1995. “We`re thrilled that
our customer complaints have reached an eight-year low,” said Jeff
McClelland, chief operating officer. “Our 13,000 employees are focused on
providing friendly and helpful service all the time and these latest
statistics show that their hard work is definitely paying off. So, we`re
quite pleased to be making our fifth operating performance payment in the
last seven months.”
America West`s on-time performance in December 2003 was 79.4, which was
well above the industry average and the airline`s performance in December
2002. The airline`s completion factor was 98.8 and the number of
mishandled bags was just 4.12 per 1,000 passengers, which is a 20 percent
year-over-year improvement.

America West Airlines is the nation`s second largest low-fare airline and
the only carrier formed since deregulation to achieve major airline
status. America West`s 13,000 employees serve nearly 55,000 customers a
day in 93 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica.
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