Describes the following terms with examples - ASM (Available Seat Miles) - RPM (Revenue Passenger Miles) - PLF (Passenger Load Factor) There is also an exercise at the end to test the reader's knowledge

1. Prateek Garodia
PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR

2. 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
passenger for purchase per mile of flight
It is used to measure an airline’s passenger
carrying capacity
11/10/2011 2

3. 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 passengers
This unit can be used to measure carrying
capacity of an airline for a route, a region or
the entire operation
11/10/2011 3

4. ASK/ASM Calculation
Available Seat Miles = Available Seats * Miles
traveled
Let us define some variables to help calculate
ASK/ASM
S = total seats available
D = total distance travelled
ASK or ASM = S * D
11/10/2011 4

5. Example 1
An aircraft has 300 seats available for
purchase. It flies for 1,000 miles. What is the
ASM?
S = 300
D = 1,000
ASM = 300 * 1,000 = 300,000
The airline has 300,000 available seat miles
11/10/2011 5

6. What is RPK/RPM?
RPM stands for Revenue Passenger Miles
Countries using kilometers as a measure of
distance use RPK (Revenue Passenger
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
11/10/2011 6

7. 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
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
11/10/2011 7

8. RPK/RPM Calculation
Revenue Passenger Mile = Revenue
passengers flown * Miles traveled
Let us define some variables to help calculate
RPK/RPM
P = total number of revenue generating
passengers
D = total distance travelled
RPK or RPM = P * D
11/10/2011 8

9. Example 2
An airplane flies a distance of 2,962 miles.
There are 130 passengers in the flight. What is
the RPM?
P = 130
D = 2,962
RPM = 130 * 2,962 = 385,060
In this example, the airline has 385,060
revenue passenger miles
11/10/2011 9

10. 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
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
11/10/2011 10

11. 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?
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%
11/10/2011 11

12. 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?
11/10/2011 12

13. References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_passenger
_mile
http://moneyterms.co.uk/rpk-revenue-
passenger-kilometres/
http://icaodata.com/Terms.aspx#RevenuePasse
nger
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-
forums/general_aviation/read.main/3582373/
http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQu
estionAndAnswers=&discussionID=76033155&gi
d=59519&commentID=55329309&trk=view_disc
&ut=1XhPa6HzrtskY1
11/10/2011 13

14. References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Available_seat_miles
http://moneyterms.co.uk/ask-available-seat-
kilometre/
http://www.wikinvest.com/metric/Available_Seat_M
iles_(ASM)
http://icaodata.com/Terms.aspx#SeatKilometresAv
ailable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_load_factor
http://moneyterms.co.uk/plf-passenger-load-factor/
11/10/2011 14