Better safe than service? The relationship between service and safety quality in the US airline industry

The public perception is that service quality among US airlines has declined significantly since deregulation, however, there is debate among experts on the effect of deregulation on safety quality. While the experts debate, the public is left with few guidelines on the safety quality of the carriers that they fly. This study examined both the service and safety quality of the major US airlines. We were interested in the interrelationship between these two areas of overall quality since consumers are generally better able to judge the service quality of airlines. The results indicate that safety quality as a whole and for individual airlines is consistently higher than service quality levels. With the exception of one year during the study, the service level of the major carrier was not significantly related to its level of safety quality, making service quality a poor indicator of safety quality for this group of carriers.