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Table 4-21M: Energy Intensity of Certificated Air Carriers, All Servicesa

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Table 4-21M: Energy Intensity of Certificated Air Carriers, All Servicesa

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  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 (R) 2001 (R) 2002 (R) 2003 (R) 2004 (R) 2005 (R) 2006 2007 2008
Aircraft-kilometers (millions)                                                  
Domestic operations 1,381 1,825 3,328 3,135 4,060 4,902 6,378 6,202 6,429 6,690 7,049 7,450 7,743 7,903 8,103 8,581 9,116 8,583 8,836 9,622 10,379 10,623 10,467 10,669 10,210
International operations 293 457 764 607 645 668 1,223 1,299 1,455 1,547 1,577 1,606 1,679 1,793 1,918 1,971 2,063 1,901 1,795 1,759 1,944 2,115 2,274 2,386 2,446
Available seat-kilometers (millions)                                                  
Domestic operations 84,040 152,545 343,048 388,306 556,878 717,487 906,165 874,901 897,996 919,722 942,171 971,910 1,008,075 1,049,160 1,065,889 1,125,463 1,170,046 1,118,816 1,091,906 1,109,159 1,193,614 1,211,002 1,192,378 1,219,246 1,173,329
International operations 21,480 47,529 83,622 99,335 139,220 164,094 274,087 276,101 313,474 322,112 320,087 326,954 335,841 368,039 382,280 391,040 408,850 378,696 347,197 329,499 369,808 402,742 425,871 449,931 468,371
Passenger-kilometers (millions)                                                  
Domestic operations 49,177 83,504 167,608 211,996 322,334 435,463 547,549 535,213 559,941 569,993 609,925 635,221 684,930 725,190 745,548 785,934 830,629 782,956 777,971 813,082 897,840 939,467 947,026 977,750 939,061
International operations 13,367 27,019 44,358 50,022 87,489 105,925 189,412 185,701 210,216 218,079 225,937 234,881 246,337 272,552 277,218 290,115 310,278 287,015 276,624 271,337 312,493 339,384 355,669 376,747 385,100
Fuel consumed (million liters)                                                  
Domestic operations 7,397 14,721 29,742 28,610 32,249 38,289 46,648 43,557 44,527 45,268 46,880 47,967 50,033 51,341 50,479 54,518 (R) 56,271 52,496 48,916 49,520 53,339 52,904 51,839 51,791 47,949
International operations 2,143 4,845 8,491 7,378 6,614 9,418 14,797 14,913 15,596 15,571 16,196 16,817 17,483 18,605 18,636 19,875 (R) 20,850 20,197 19,226 19,755 21,169 22,616 22,779 23,487 23,419
Seats per aircraft                                                  
Domestic operations 60.9 83.6 103.1 123.9 137.1 146.4 142.1 141.1 139.7 137.5 133.7 130.5 130.2 132.7 131.5 131.2 128.4 130.4 123.6 115.3 115.0 114.0 113.9 114.3 114.9
International operations 73.3 104.0 109.4 163.7 215.7 245.7 224.1 212.6 215.5 208.3 203.0 203.6 200.1 205.3 199.3 198.4 198.2 199.2 193.4 187.4 190.2 190.4 187.3 188.6 191.5
Seat-kilometers per liter                                                  
Domestic operations 11 10 12 14 17 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 21 21 (R) 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 24 24
International operations 10 10 10 13 21 17 19 19 20 21 20 19 19 20 21 20 (R) 20 19 18 17 17 18 19 19 20
Energy intensity (Kilojoule/passenger-kilometer)                                                  
Domestic operations 5,659 6,633 6,677 5,078 3,764 3,308 3,206 3,062 2,992 2,988 2,892 2,841 2,749 2,664 2,548 2,610 2,549 2,523 2,366 2,292 2,235 2,119 2,060 1,993 1,921
International operations 6,031 6,748 7,202 5,550 2,845 3,345 2,939 3,022 2,792 2,686 2,697 2,694 2,670 2,568 2,529 2,578 2,528 2,648 2,615 2,739 2,549 2,507 2,410 2,346 2,288
Load factor (percent)                                                  
Domestic operations 58.5 54.7 48.9 54.6 58.0 60.7 60.4 61.2 62.4 62.0 64.7 65.4 67.9 69.1 69.9 69.8 71.0 69.1 70.3 72.6 74.4 77 79.0 79.8 79.6
International operations 62.2 56.8 53.0 50.4 62.8 64.6 69.1 67.3 67.1 67.6 70.6 71.8 73.3 74.1 72.5 74.2 75.9 72.8 76.6 76.5 79.1 79.5 79.9 80.4 79.4

KEY: Btu = British thermal unit; R = revised.

a U.S. owned carriers only. Operations of foreign-owned carriers in or out of the United States not included.

NOTES
Aircraft-kilometers includes all four air-carrier groups (majors, nationals, large regionals, and medium regionals), scheduled and charter, passenger, and all-cargo. Fuel consumed includes majors, nationals, and large regionals, scheduled and charter, passenger, and all-cargo.
Passenger-kilometers includes all four air-carrier groups, scheduled and charter, passenger service only.
International operations include operations outside the United States, including those between the United States and foreign countries and the United States and its territories or possessions.
Heat equivalent factor used for Joule conversion is 37,626,700 Joules/liter.
1kilometer equals 1.609344 miles.
1 liter equals 0.264172052 gallons.

SOURCES
Aircraft-miles, available seat-miles, passenger-miles, and load factor:
1960-80: Air Transport Association, available at http://www.air-transport.org/public/industry, as of July 31, 2002.
1985-2008: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics (Washington DC: Annual December issues).
Fuel consumed:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, available at http://www.bts.gov/oai/fuel/fuelyearly.html as of Nov. 6, 2009.
Seats per aircraft, seat-miles per gallon, and energy intensiveness:
Derived by calculation.