Airline revenue passenger miles (RPM) are a measure of intensity of use of the air travel system. In 2008, the 740 million passengers traveling on U.S.-based airlines collectively traveled 805 billion miles. On average, a passenger traveling domestically went 836 miles for each flight. An international passenger traveling on a U.S.-based airline traveled an average of 2,713 miles to the first destination outside the U.S.
U.S.
Airline Revenue Passenger Miles
Jul-08
Jul-09
Scheduled System
(Domestic and International) U.S. Airlines Total RPM (billions)
78.17
75.67
Percent change from same
month previous year
-1.39
-3.20
NOTE: The current value is compared to the value from the same
period in the previous year to account for seasonality.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology
Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline
Information, available at http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/ as
of October 2009.
