U.S. Airline Revenue Passenger-Miles and Load Factor
Revenue Passenger-Miles (monthly data, not seasonally adjusted)
Load Factor (monthly data, not seasonally adjusted)
Airline revenue passenger-miles (RPM) are a measure of intensity of use of the air travel system. In 2011, the 728 million passengers traveling on U.S.-based airlines collectively traveled 809 billion miles. On average, a passenger traveling domestically traveled 883 miles. An international passenger traveling on a U.S.-based airline traveled an average of 2,721 miles to the first destination outside the U.S.
In 2011, capacity utilization for domestic carriers was 82.9 percent of available seat-miles (ASM) occupied by passengers for domestic flights, and 80.4 percent of ASM occupied for international flights. Foreign airlines that originated flights in the U.S. had a load factor of 80.3 percent.
| U.S. Airline Revenue Passenger-Miles and Load Factor | Oct-11 | Oct-12 |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled System (Domestic and International) U.S. Airlines Total RPM (billions) | 66.87 | 66.49 |
| Percent change from same month previous year | -1.3 | -0.6 |
| Scheduled System (Domestic and International) U.S. Airlines Load Factor (percent) | 82.59 | 83.45 |
| Difference from same month previous year* | -0.5 | 0.9 |
* Current month minus same month previous year. This is generally used in the case of bound numbers, such as proportions that cannot exceed 100%.
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 February 2013.