Operational performance of the U.S. airline industry has been monitored for the past 25 years by a unique quantitative model of key metrics. As the nation’s most comprehensive study of airline performance and quality in existence, the National Airline Quality Rating (http://airlinequalityrating.com) sets the industry standard, providing consumers and industry watchers a means to compare performance quality among airlines using objective performance-based data. No other airline study in the country is based on performance measures. Criteria included in the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report are screened to meet two basic elements: (1) they must be readily obtainable from published data sources for each airline, and (2) they must be important to consumers regarding airline quality. The resulting criteria include areas such as baggage handling, customer complaints, denied boardings and on-time arrivals. This research utilizes the application of a trend analysis methodology resulting in both industry-wide and airline specific benchmarks. Specific and unique time periods can be accessed for the compressive AQR database which has been maintained on each indicator, on a monthly basis, for more than two decades.