The three largest U.S. full-cost carriers sit atop the list of passenger kilometers (RPKs) flown worldwide in 2020 with American Airlines managing to reach top spot with 124 billion RPKs. On the third place was Delta with 106.5 billion, followed by United Airlines with 100.2 billion RPKs.
Revenue passenger kilometers
Revenue passenger kilometers (or revenue passenger miles, in some territories) are a measure of passenger demand in a given market. They are calculated by multiplying the number of revenue-paying passengers aboard an aircraft by the distance the aircraft traveled. Often RPKs are compared to available seat kilometers (ASKs), which are the number of seats available for sale on an aircraft multiplied by the distance flown. ASKs effectively measure supply in a given market, with the goal of airlines being to match their ASKs offered with their RPKs flown.
Airline metrics
Across most airline industry metrics the large full-cost U.S. airlines dominate. Looking at only the number of passengers flown, American and Delta again sit in first and second place, with U.S. low-cost carrier Southwest coming in third just ahead of United. Revenue figures tells a similar story, but with German national carrier Lufthansa replacing Southwest. However, when considering the number of airport pairs served, all the U.S. carriers are beaten out by Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, who serve nearly 50 percent more airport pairs than American Airlines.
FAQs
RPK – Revenue Passenger Kilometers or revenue passenger miles (RPM) measures the air traffic for airbus and aircrafts using the formula: RPK or RPM = P*D where P is the total of revenue paying passengers and D is the distance travelled in kilometers.
How do you calculate passenger load factor? ›
Load factor represents the proportion of airline output that is actually consumed. To calculate this figure, divide RPMs by ASMs. Load factor for a single flight can also be calculated by dividing the number of passengers by the number of seats.
What is the passenger traffic in 2023? ›
Passenger traffic at Indian airports FY 2014-2023, by type
Passenger traffic amounted to over 327 million at airports across India in financial year 2023, out of which close to 57 million were international passengers. However, there was a drop in traffic of both the domestic and international passengers in 2021.
Is a measure of revenue per passenger Kilometre for airlines? ›
Revenue passenger kilometers
They are calculated by multiplying the number of revenue-paying passengers aboard an aircraft by the distance the aircraft traveled. Often RPKs are compared to available seat kilometers (ASKs), which are the number of seats available for sale on an aircraft multiplied by the distance flown.
How do you calculate passenger km? ›
Passenger kilometers are calculated by multiplying the number of passengers carried by the distance travelled in kilometers.
What is passenger miles flown by airlines? ›
A revenue passenger mile (RPM) is a transportation industry metric that shows the number of miles traveled by paying passengers and is typically an airline traffic statistic. Revenue passenger miles are calculated by multiplying the number of paying passengers by the distance traveled.
What is the passenger load factor for US airlines? ›
In 2022, U.S. airlines reported a passenger load factor of 83.07 percent on domestic and international flights, up from 73.75 percent registered the previous year.
What is a good passenger load factor? ›
Each airline's breakeven load factor differs, and depends on their costs and expenditure, with the figure usually being around 70% on average.
What is the passenger load factor of an airline? ›
The load factor is a metric used in the airline industry that measures the percentage of available seating capacity that has been filled with passengers. A high load factor indicates that an airline has sold most of its available seats and is preferred over a low load factor.
What is the busiest airport in the US 2023? ›
The Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the US, serving the city of Atlanta, Georgia.
Global leisure travel remains robust, up roughly 31% in March 2023 compared to the same period in 2019, representing an impressive 25% year-over-year-to-date change from 2022 to 2023.
Is 2023 a good year to travel? ›
2023 will be the year of reimagining travel
As travel restrictions and Covid testing become a thing of the past, research reveals that 73% of people are more optimistic about travel than they were in 2022.
How do airlines measure success? ›
To measure the performance and efficiency of an airline, managers need to use key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect the goals and objectives of the organization. KPIs are quantifiable metrics that track and compare the progress and results of specific activities, processes, or outcomes.
What is KPI in airline? ›
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are data metrics used to track performance in aviation safety management systems (SMS). This “performance” was not intended to measure only safety, but also quality and financial performance as well.
What do you mean by cost per passenger kilometre? ›
Cost unit for Passenger transport organization is Passenger– Kilometer – that means cost of carrying one Passenger over a distance of one kilometer. The costs are shown under the suggestive following heads: © The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Page 9. 12.9.
What does passenger miles mean? ›
Passenger Miles means the measure of service utilization, which represents the cumulative sum of the distances, ridden by each passenger. For example, ten passengers riding in a vehicle for two miles equals 20 passenger miles.
What is an example of revenue passenger kilometers? ›
Simple Example
The distance between the two airports is 1,190 KM, which means that the RPK per leg flown is 190 (the passenger demand) multiplied 1,190 (the distance traveled by the passengers). Hence, Blank Airlines has 226,100 Revenue Passenger Kilometers per flight leg.
What is the meaning of million passenger km? ›
Railways, passengers carried (million passenger-km) Short definition. Passengers carried by railway are the number of passengers transported by rail times kilometers traveled.
What is a million passenger km? ›
Passenger transport refers to the total movement of passengers using inland transport on a given network. Data are expressed in million passenger-kilometres, which represents the transport of a passenger for one kilometre.
