Hawaiian Airlines, whose HAL abbreviation was jokingly referred to two decades ago as standing for Hawaiian Always Late, has come a long way.

So far, in fact, that Honolulu's oldest carrier was ranked yesterday as the nation's top airline for service quality for the third time in four years.

The 20th annual Airline Quality Rating study measured four categories: on-time performance, mishandled baggage, involuntary denied boardings and customer complaints.

Hawaiian ranked first in punctuality at 92.1 percent—the best score of any airline for the past two years—and was ranked second for mishandled baggage reports at 1.90 per 1,000 passengers and for denied boarding performance at 0.03 per 10,000 passengers. The company's complaint rate of 0.74 per 100,000 passengers was eighth overall but better than the industry average of 0.97.

“;I think it all goes to show, frankly, that you need to recall the bad periods to understand how precious the good periods are,”; said Hawaiian President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Dunkerley. “;There is nothing preordained about us being the most punctual airline or the airline that rates the most highest in the land. When it comes to airline quality, it just doesn't happen by itself. It takes a lot of effort. It's very satisfying in light of how hard everyone's worked.”;

Hawaiian, which also was the top-ranked airline in 2006 and 2008, was not included in the 2007 rankings for undetermined reasons when AirTran, this year's runner-up, captured the top spot. However, if Hawaiian had been included that year, it would have finished first as well, according to the involuntary data it reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Nationwide, fewer passengers boarded planes last year, but those who did were generally treated better than in the past. Planes were more likely to land on time, and bags were less likely to get lost.

As a result, passengers reported fewer complaints even while cash-strapped airlines reduced flight schedules and charged for everything from bags and pillows to prime spots in boarding lines.

U.S. air travel surged to about 770 million passengers in 2007, when airline performance suffered a near meltdown. Performance began improving two years ago as the economy took a toll on air travel. Passengers dropped to about 750 million in 2008 and fell to 704 million last year.

“;We kind of turned a little bit of a corner in '08, and we're glad to say they're continuing that generally positive (trend) for the consumer,”; said Dean Headley, a Wichita State University professor and co-author of the annual analysis of airline quality.

Headley noted that Hawaiian has an advantage for scoring high because many of its flights are short hops between islands in a climate generally favorable for flying.

But Dunkerley said that despite the good weather, “;what is lost in the recognition is that we fly interisland 14 or 16 times each day and have a very quick turnaround, sometimes as often as 25 minutes.”;

“;So if you're five minutes late on each flight, while that may sound inconsequential, that means you're over an hour late each day,”; he said.

Dunkerley said Hawaiian is still awaiting word on its application with the U.S. DOT for two of the four slots to serve Tokyo's Haneda International Airport from the United States.

“;We're waiting with bated breath,”; he said. “;I think a decision could come almost any time between now and the end of May. The timing is such that the U.S. DOT needs to make a decision so that whoever is awarded the routes gets to apply for Haneda's slots in mid-June.”;

The airline also is anticipating delivery of its first Airbus A330-200 aircraft. About 200 employees will be traveling to France during the last week of April, with the plane scheduled to be in Hawaii during the first week of May.