| Measure
1: System Operating Profit/(Loss) per Originating Passenger in Dollars |
-$66.35 |
$3.06 |
7 |
America
West was the leader among low-cost carriers with over $15 profit per
passenger. Spirit, Southwest and AirTran also reported profits. Frontier,
JetBlue and ATA reported operating losses per originating passenger. |
| Measure
2: System Operating Expenses (excluding Regional Jet Contract) per
Originating Passenger in Dollars |
$459 |
$127 |
7 |
Operating
costs per originating passenger for low-cost carriers increased mainly due to
double-digit fuel cost increases and higher wages for a maturing work
force. |
| Measure
3: System Operating Expenses (excluding Regional Jet Contract) per Aircraft
in Millions of Dollars |
$6.937 |
$4.608 |
7 |
The
low cost carriers' spent 2.2 million less per aircraft than the network
carriers in the first quarter of 2007, even though their costs rose faster
over the past five years. |
| Measure
4: Passenger Revenue per Originating Passenger (excluding Regional Jet Contract Revenue)
in dollars |
$383 |
$121 |
1 |
Low-cost
carrier revenue per passenger rose 13 percent from 2002 to 2005 and 3 percent
from 2005 to 2007. The low-cost group
was very aggressive in adding new domestic capacity. |
| Measure
5: Full-Time Equivalent Employees* per Aircraft |
89 |
73 |
5 |
The industry showed a
wide-range of performance, with AirTran's 59 FTEs per aircraft, the fewest of
any carrier, about half the 113 FTEs reported by United. |
| Measure
6: Average Monthly Available Seat-Miles (ASMs) per Full-Time Equivalent
Employee* in millions of ASMs |
262 |
235 |
3 |
Both
the network carriers and low-cost airlines substantially improved
productivity with more ASMs generated per FTE from 2002 to 2007. |
| Measure
7: Average Monthly Revenue Aircraft Minutes per Full-Time Equivalent
Employee* in Minutes |
174 |
238 |
7 |
The network carriers
improved by 31 percent but the low-cost carrier group has a wide advantage
over the network airlines in average monthly revenue air minutes per FTE. |
| Measure
8: Average Monthly Originating Passengers per Full-Time Equivalent Employee* |
56 |
166 |
7 |
In 2007, the low-cost
carriers generated 166 originating passengers per FTE employee compared to 69
passengers per FTE for the network airlines. |
| Measure 9:
Fuel Cost in Dollars per Originating Passenger |
$131 |
$38 |
7 |
The low-cost group paid $55
less in fuel costs per originating passenger than the network carriers in
2007. |
| Measure
10: Average Full-Time Equivalent Employee* Compensation (Salaries + Benefits)
per Originating Passenger in dollars |
$129 |
$41 |
7 |
The financially stronger
low-cost carrier group's compensation expenses increased a modest $3 per
originating passenger, reflecting wage increases for the group's increasingly
senior work force partially offset by sustained operational efficiencies. |
| Measure
11: Average Annual Full-Time Equivalent Employee* Compensation (Salaries +
Benefits) in dollars |
$87,526 |
$81,221 |
2 |
From
2002 to 2007, low-cost carrier annual compensation costs rose 43 percent
while network airline costs declined 0.8 percent. |
* Full-time Equivalent Employee (FTE) calculations count two
part-time employees as one full-time employee.
** Low-cost carriers are those that the industry recognizes as
operating under a low-cost business model, with fewer infrastructure costs
and greater expectations of productivity.
*** Network carriers operate a significant portion of their
flights using at least one hub where connections are made for flights on a
spoke system.
