
Aircraft load factors are used to measure aircraft in-flight capacity utilization.
| Revenue Load Factors (percent) | Jul-00 | Jul-01 |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger revenue load factor | 76.21 | 75.31 |
| Passenger revenue load factor change from same month previous year | 0.12 | -0.90 |
| Overall aircraft revenue load factor | 60.82 | 58.51 |
| Overall aircraft revenue change from same month previous year | -0.41 | -2.31 |
| Freight revenue load factor | 32.25 | 27.55 |
| Freight revenue load factor change from same month previous year | -1.85 | -4.70 |
NOTES: The current value is compared to the value from the same period in the previous year to account for seasonality.
Load factor relates to the potential capacity of a system relative to its actual performance. In order to combine passenger and freight to calculate overall aircraft load factors, a common metric is needed: ton-miles. Thus, it is assumed that a passenger plus baggage weighs 200 pounds. The data do not include international flights by U.S. domestic carriers or domestic flights by foreign carriers.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics Monthly, July 2001.