PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

Prateek Garodia

What is ASK/ASM?

� ASM stands for Available Seat Miles

� Countries using kilometers as a measure of

distance use ASK (Available Seat Kilometers)

� ASM is the number of seats available to a � ASM is the number of seats available to a

passenger for purchase per mile of flight

� It is used to measure an airline’s passenger

carrying capacity

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What is ASK/ASM?

� It excludes seats not available for passengers

due to weight of fuel or other load

� The higher the ASM the higher the capacity

of the airline to carry more passengersof the airline to carry more passengers

� This unit can be used to measure carrying

capacity of an airline for a route, a region or

the entire operation

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ASK/ASM Calculation

� Available Seat Miles = Available Seats * Miles

traveled

� Let us define some variables to help calculate

ASK/ASMASK/ASM

� S = total seats available

� D = total distance travelled

� ASK or ASM = S * D

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Example 1

� An aircraft has 300 seats available for

purchase. It flies for 1,000 miles. What is the

ASM?

� S = 300� S = 300

� D = 1,000

� ASM = 300 * 1,000 = 300,000

� The airline has 300,000 available seat miles

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What is RPK/RPM?

� RPM stands for Revenue Passenger Miles

� Countries using kilometers as a measure of

distance use RPK (Revenue Passenger

Kilometers)Kilometers)

� A revenue passenger is one for whose

transportation an air carrier receives

commercial remuneration

� RPM is used to measure the number of

revenue passengers flown for each mile

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What is RPK/RPM?

� In conjunction with revenue, this

measurement is also used to calculate yield

� The difference between RPM and ASM is that

ASM measures the total carrying capacity of ASM measures the total carrying capacity of

the airline while RPM measures the number

of revenue paying passengers actually carried

by the airline

� So, RPM is really a subset of ASM

� Ideally RPM should always be equal to ASM

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RPK/RPM Calculation

� Revenue Passenger Mile = Revenue

passengers flown * Miles traveled

� Let us define some variables to help calculate

RPK/RPMRPK/RPM

� P = total number of revenue generating

passengers

� D = total distance travelled

� RPK or RPM = P * D

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Example 2

� An airplane flies a distance of 2,962 miles.

There are 130 passengers in the flight. What is

the RPM?

� P = 130� P = 130

� D = 2,962

� RPM = 130 * 2,962 = 385,060

� In this example, the airline has 385,060

revenue passenger miles

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What is PLF?

� PLF is Passenger Load Factor

� This is a measure of capacity utilization

� It is used to calculate the percentage of available capacity used to carry passengers available capacity used to carry passengers

� It is also used to calculate financial figures like capacity utilization required to allow the airline to break even

� PLF = RPM / ASM

� Ideally this ratio should always be 1

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Example 3

� An aircraft has 23 seats in first class, 80 seats in business class and 313 seats in first class. The aircraft flew for 7,733 miles. The RPM of this flight was 2,420,429. What is the load factor?flight was 2,420,429. What is the load factor?

� RPM = 2,420,429

� ASM = (23 + 80 + 313) * 7733 = 416 * 7733 = 3,216,928

� PLF = 2,420,429 / 3,216,928 = 0.7524

� The load factor or capacity utilization of this aircraft for this trip is 75.24%

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Exercise 1

� An airline in a year had an ASM of 45,610

million. In the same year, its RPM was 36,531

million. What was the airline’s passenger load

factor in that year?factor in that year?

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References

� http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_passenger_mile

� http://moneyterms.co.uk/rpk-revenue-passenger-kilometres/

� http://icaodata.com/Terms.aspx#RevenuePasse� http://icaodata.com/Terms.aspx#RevenuePassenger

� http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/3582373/

� http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=76033155&gid=59519&commentID=55329309&trk=view_disc&ut=1XhPa6HzrtskY1

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References

� http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Available_seat_miles

� http://moneyterms.co.uk/ask-available-seat-kilometre/

� http://www.wikinvest.com/metric/Available_Seat_Miles_(ASM)iles_(ASM)

� http://icaodata.com/Terms.aspx#SeatKilometresAvailable

� http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_load_factor

� http://moneyterms.co.uk/plf-passenger-load-factor/

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