Poll: Airline favorability rising

Airline favorability is on the rise, with 35 percent of U.S. residents saying they have a positive opinion of domestic carriers, according to a new poll released Thursday by Gallup. 

The result is a three percent increase over the organization’s finding about airline popularity in 2014, and it is only the third time since 2008 that the aviation industry’s favorability rating outweighed its negative responses. Thirty-two percent of respondents said they had a negative view of the airline industry, according to the poll. 

The poll found younger U.S. residents are more likely to view the airline industry positively than their older counterparts. Forty-four percent of respondents between 18- and 29-years-old held a favorable opinion of U.S. carriers, compared to 33 percent for residents between 30- and 49-years-old, 35 percent for residents between 50- and 64-years-old and 37 percent for residents who are older than 65. 

{mosads}Gallup attributed the finding to the fact that younger passengers were not alive in the periods when airlines were more closely regulated by the federal government. 

“Younger Americans’ more positive views of the airline industry could be attributed to the fact that drastic changes in the industry’s history occurred before they were born,” the polling firm said. 

“No one in this age group was alive before airlines were deregulated in 1978,” Gallup continued. “This move, which was supposed to make air travel less expensive, is what introduced more fees, the bankruptcy of many small airports and several airline mergers. Furthermore, the youngest Americans also became adults and began flying more after airport changes following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.” 

Gallup said a recent move by the Department of Justice to investigate potential price collusion among major airlines has also done little to dampen the popularity of the nation’s aviation industry. 

“In early 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was investigating four of the major U.S. airlines for potential and unlawful coordination over prices, routes and fees between the airlines,” the group said. “If this did occur among these airlines, it could have hurt consumers by limiting competition and the availability of options between the airlines. Adding to customer complaints in 2015, oil and gas prices are down significantly, but the prices of tickets for flights have remained high.

“However, the negative conditions taken as a whole — including mergers, changes in pricing structure, additions of fees and other shifts in the customer flying experience — have apparently not resulted in a significant degradation of the airline industry’s image,” Gallup continued. “Americans have been as likely to view the industry positively as negatively over the past several years, and these perceptions are as positive as they have been for a decade.”