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 rose to 84.1 percent in September, seasonally adjusted, following a one month decline. Seasonal adjustment allows the comparing of monthly load factors to all other months.

The September load factor of 84.1, up from 83.6 in August, was below the all-time seasonally-adjusted high of 84.5 in January 2014. 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 load factor rose month-to-month because of a combined increase in passenger travel (RPMs rose from August to September) and decline in capacity.

Trends:

           

Seasonally-adjusted

September was the seventh consecutive month in which passenger enplanements reached a seasonally-adjusted all-time high. RPMs rose 0.4 percent from August but were down 0.2 percent from the all-time high in July.  Capacity was down 0.2 percent from the all-time high in August. The September load factor (84.1) was the fourth highest all-time.

 

Unadjusted

Systemwide: September load factor (83.0) was the highest for the month of September, up from the previous September high set in 2014 (81.9). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any September.

Domestic: September load factor (83.8) was the highest for the month of September, up from the previous September high set in 2014 (82.1). The number of passengers and RPMs reached record highs for any September. ASMs were below the September 2007 level.

International: September load factor (81.4) was down from the all-time September high set in 2010 (83.6). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any September.

For the first nine months of 2015, January through September, systemwide load factor (83.9) equaled the all-time high set in 2014 (83.9). The number of systemwide passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for the first nine months of any year.

See Air Traffic Release for summary tables and additional data. Additional traffic data can be found on the BTS Airlines and Airports page. Click on a link in the Quick Links box on the right. See Load factor, RPMs, ASMs  and Passengers. For more historical data, see Traffic on the BTS website. See Seasonal Adjustment for methodology and additional explanation. See data for airline data since 2000 as well as seasonally-adjusted data for rail, transit, pipelines, trucking and waterways.

Source:

BTS 55-15 Advisory

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Contact: Dave Smallen

Tel:  202-366-5568