The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines' systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service load factor – a measure of the use of airline capacity – rose to 83.8 percent in October, seasonally adjusted, rising for the second consecutive month. Seasonal adjustment allows the comparing of monthly load factors to all other months.
Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares the system use, measured in Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs) as a proportion of system capacity, measured in Available Seat-Miles (ASMs).
The seasonally-adjusted load factor rose from September (83.7) to October (83.8) because the reduction in system capacity (more than 1.0 percent decline in ASMs) slightly exceeded the decline in passenger travel (less than 1.0 percent decline in RPMs).
Trends:
Seasonally-adjusted
Systemwide load factor (83.8) was down 1.1 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (84.8) reached in October 2015. Calculations are based on unrounded numbers. Domestic load factor (85.5) was down 0.8 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (86.3) reached in October 2015. International load factor (79.8) was down 3.3 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (83.1) reached in March 2013.
Systemwide RPMs (77.3 billion) were down 1.1 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (78.2 billion) reached in June 2016. Domestic RPMs (55.0 billion) were down 0.8 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (55.4 billion) reached in September 2016. International RPMs (22.3 billion) were down 3.0 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (23.0 billion) reached in July 2016.
Systemwide ASMs (92.3 billion) were down 1.2 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (93.5 billion) reached in June 2016. Domestic ASMs (64.3 billion) were down 1.4 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (65.2 billion) reached in July and August 2016. International ASMs (28.0 billion) were down 1.4 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (28.4 billion) reached in June 2016.
Systemwide passenger enplanements (68.7 million) were down 0.9 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (69.3 million) reached in September 2016. Domestic passenger enplanements (60.1 million) were down 0.9 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (60.7 million) reached in September 2016. International passenger enplanements (8.5 million) were down 2.3 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (8.7 million) reached in June 2016.
Seasonally adjusted trends are for the time period January 2000 to present.
Additional data, including domestic and international numbers, can be found on the seasonally-adjusted data page.
Unadjusted
Systemwide load factor (83.8) was down 1.2 points from the all-time October high (85.0) reached in 2015. Domestic load factor (85.3) was down 1.1 points from the all-time October high (86.4) reached in 2015. International load factor (80.0) was down 2.4 points from the all-time October high (82.4) reached in 2010.
Systemwide RPMs (75.9 billion) were down 0.2 percent from the all-time October high (76.1 billion) reached in 2015. Domestic RPMs (54.4 billion) reached an all-time October high, up 0.6 percent from the previous high (54.1 billion) in 2015. International RPMs (21.5 billion) were down 2.3 percent from the all-time October high (22.0 billion) reached in 2015.
Systemwide ASMs (90.6 billion) reached an all-time October high, up 1.3 percent from the previous high (89.5 billion) reached in 2015. Domestic ASMs (63.8 billion) reached an all-time October high, up 1.9 percent from the previous high (62.6 billion) reached in 2015. International ASMs (26.9 billion) were down 0.3 percent from the all-time October high (27.0 billion) reached in 2015.
Systemwide passenger enplanements (68.6 million) were down 0.2 percent from the all-time October high (68.7 million) reached in 2015. Domestic passenger enplanements (60.9 million) equaled the all-time October high (60.9 million) reached in 2015. International passenger enplanements (7.7 million) were down 1.4 percent from the all-time October high (7.8 million) reached in 2015.
Unadjusted trends are for the time period January 1996 to present. Data are available at Customize Table and both unadjusted and adjusted data can be downloaded from the seasonally-adjusted data page.
