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 85.0 percent in October, seasonally adjusted, reaching a record high monthly load factor with a second consecutive month of growth. Seasonal adjustment allows the comparing of monthly load factors to all other months. For October U.S. airlines reported seasonally-adjusted all-time monthly highs in passenger enplanements and Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs). Systemwide enplanements in October (68.3 million) exceeded the previous record in September 2015 by 0.9 percent. Systemwide RPMs in October (77.0 billion) exceeded the previous record in July 2015 by 0.8 percent. These all-time highs resulted in the record load factor because passenger travel grew faster than system capacity. Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares the system use, measured in RPMs as a proportion of system capacity, measured in Available Seat-Miles (ASMs). The load factor rose from September (84.3) to October (85.0) because passenger travel grew faster (0.8 percent increase in RPMs) than system capacity (ASMs were virtually unchanged). Trends: Seasonally-adjusted October was the eighth consecutive month in which passenger enplanements reached a seasonally-adjusted all-time high. RPMs also reached an all-time monthly high, exceeding the previous high in July 2015 by 0.8 percent. Capacity was down 0.1 percent from the all-time high in August. The October load factor (85.0) was the highest all-time. Systemwide: October load factor (85.0) was the highest for the month of October, up from the previous October high set in 2012 (83.4). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any October. Domestic: October load factor (86.4) was the highest for the month of October, up from the previous October high set in 2012 (84.3). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs reached record highs for any October. International: October load factor (81.6) was down from the all-time October high set in 2010 (82.4). The number of passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for any October. For the first 10 months of 2015, January through October, systemwide load factor (84.0) was the highest for the for the 10-month period, up from the all-time high set in 2014 (83.8). The number of systemwide passengers, RPMs and ASMs all reached record highs for the first 10 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. You are subscribed to DOT News for Department of Transportation. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
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BTS Statistical Release: October 2015 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
