Hawaiian Airlines led the nation in on-time performance in March, narrowly edging out rival Aloha Airlines, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported yesterday.

The state's largest airline said 91.4 percent of its flights were on-time in February, slightly better than Aloha Airlines' second best on-time performance of 91.1 percent.

Hawaiian was the nation's best on-time airline for a record 36 months before Aloha took the top spot last November and December. Hawaiian reclaimed the top spot in January.

In a separate report, a national airline quality study rated Hawaiian Airlines as the top performing carrier in the country.

In its 17th Annual Airline Quality Rating, University of Nebraska's Omaha Aviation Institute and Wichita State University's business school rated Hawaiian as the best among the nation's 18 largest carriers using 15 different consumer categories.

The 2006 study was the first time Hawaiian was included in the study, which rated the airline first for on-time performance and fewest mishandled bags.