BTS 42-15 Friday, September 11, 2015 Contact: Dave Smallen Tel: 202-366-5568 BTS Releases June 2015 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
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 83.2 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, after remaining unchanged for two consecutive months. Seasonal adjustment allows the comparing of monthly load factors to all other months.
For June, U.S. airlines reported seasonally-adjusted all-time monthly highs in passenger enplanements, Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs) and Available Seat-Miles (ASMs). Systemwide passenger enplanements in June (66.0 million) exceeded the previous record in May 2015 by 0.2 percent. Systemwide RPMs in June (74.8 billion) exceeded the previous record in May 2015 by 0.4 percent. Systemwide ASMs in June (89.9 billion) exceeded the previous record in May 2015 by 0.1 percent. These all-time highs resulted in a higher load factor in June because the growth in passenger travel exceeded the growth in airline capacity.
The June load factor of 83.2 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 seasonally-adjusted load factor rose in June after having remained stable at 82.9 in April and May. The load factor rose from May to June because passenger travel grew faster (0.4 percent increase in RPMs) than system capacity (0.1 percent increase in ASMs).
Trends: Seasonally-adjusted Since peaking in early 2014, load factor has varied from a high of 83.8 in May 2014 to a low of 82.6 in November 2014. The June load factor (83.2) continued that pattern. June was the fourth consecutive month in which RPMs, ASMs and passenger enplanements reached seasonally-adjusted all-time highs.
Unadjusted Systemwide: June load factor (86.4) was down from the all-time June high set in 2013 (87.0). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any June.
Domestic: June load factor (87.4) equaled the all-time high for the month of June set in 2014. The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any June.
International: June load factor (84.4) was down from the all-time June high set in 2013 (86.9). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any June.
For the first half of 2014, January through June, load factor (82.9) was down from the all-time high set in 2014 (83.2). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for the first six 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.
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BTS Releases June 2015 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
