Rising Breakeven Load Factors Threaten Airline Finances

Details

• Creators:
  Goodfriend, Jason
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Transportation Statistics
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Load factor
  • Airlines
  • Economic factors
• Series:
  BTS Special Reports and Issue Briefs
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1501615
• Resource Type:
  Brief
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Transportation Statistics
• Abstract:
  Since 2000, most large passenger airlines suffered a sharp increase in their Breakeven Load Factor – the number of seats they have to sell to cover operating expenses. Some carriers could not cover operating expenses even if they sold 100% of their seats at average airfares. Passenger yield, which partly determines Breakeven Load Factor, has fallen most sharply for recently bankrupt carriers, although it has also declined steeply for most large carriers. Unit costs – another factor in Breakeven Load Factor – have been rising for many large passenger airlines. Large airlines at most financial risk had higher unit costs than other airlines even prior to September 11, 2001, and those costs have remained high and have even increased for some.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/6333/dot_6333_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 45.20 KB]
• Collection(s):
  BTS Products
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:cef34d3cf3ba9e88141dcced54f19a82bf8c009201e8bdda3cd4fa1eb77793a0