Apr 4, 2011 — By Joe Kleinsasser — According to the 21st annual national Airline Quality Rating (AQR), AirTran is the best-performing airline. The rating is conducted annually by researchers Dean Headley of ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ and Brent Bowen of Purdue University. The AQR, as an industry standard, uses objective performance-based data to compare quality among airlines.