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 2012, the 734 million passengers traveling on U.S.-based airlines collectively traveled 818 billion miles. On average, a passenger traveling domestically traveled 886 miles. An international passenger traveling on a U.S.-based airline traveled an average of 2,705 miles to the first destination outside the U.S.
In 2012, capacity utilization for domestic carriers was 83.4 percent of available seat-miles (ASM) occupied by passengers for domestic flights, and 81.5 percent of ASM occupied for international flights. Foreign airlines that originated flights in the U.S. had a load factor of 81.8 percent.
| U.S. Airline Revenue Passenger-Miles and Load Factor | May-12 | May-13 |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled System (Domestic and International) U.S. Airlines Total RPM (billions) | 70.70 | 72.50 |
| Percent change from same month previous year | + 0.5% | + 2.5% |
| Scheduled System (Domestic and International) U.S. Airlines Load Factor (percent) | 83.58 | 84.24 |
| Difference from same month previous year* | - 0.1% | + 0.7% |
* 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 September 2013.