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Table 4-21: Energy Intensity of Certificated Air Carriers, All Services(a)

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  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 (R) 2012 2013 2014
Aircraft-miles (millions)                                                              
Domestic operations 858 1,134 2,068 1,638 2,276 3,026 3,963 3,854 3,995 4,156 4,378 4,628 4,807 4,907 5,030 5,326 5,662 5,545 5,613 6,106 6,602 6,716 6,606 6,733 6,446 5,935 5,976 6,005 5,956 5,965 5,947
International operations 182 284 475 334 334 415 760 807 904 958 975 998 1,043 1,114 1,186 1,225 1,282 1,264 1,222 1,261 1,403 1,536 1,615 1,682 1,696 1,599 1,690 1,778 1,768 1,758 1,790
Available seat-miles (millions)                                                              
Domestic operations 52,220 94,787 213,160 215,275 326,734 452,756 570,558 551,562 567,040 582,122 598,150 616,459 639,013 652,026 661,616 698,866 726,291 704,801 687,226 697,012 750,902 758,665 746,002 763,581 734,241 683,441 689,911 697,779 699,590 708,403 721,277
International operations 13,347 29,533 51,960 64,138 84,514 110,578 182,652 186,468 205,829 211,831 211,109 215,623 220,708 228,689 237,413 242,981 254,048 245,718 227,291 225,396 249,123 270,588 281,551 296,535 306,599 291,866 302,013 314,744 312,475 316,936 326,485
Passenger-miles (millions)                                                              
Domestic operations 30,557 51,887 104,147 119,591 190,766 275,864 345,873 338,085 354,764 362,227 388,410 403,912 434,652 450,673 462,754 487,940 515,598 486,506 483,525 505,602 558,194 583,771 588,471 607,564 583,292 551,741 564,695 575,613 580,501 589,692 607,772
International operations 8,306 16,789 27,563 34,864 53,932 73,237 126,363 125,211 138,950 143,766 149,108 154,882 161,512 169,356 172,179 180,269 192,798 178,343 172,086 168,535 194,071 211,325 221,648 234,462 240,491 228,256 244,371 250,259 252,123 258,167 261,756
Fuel consumed (million gallons)                                                              
Domestic operations 1,954 3,889 7,857 7,558 8,519 10,115 12,212 11,360 11,598 11,960 12,501 12,812 13,187 13,658 13,303 14,491 14,865 13,868 12,922 13,082 14,091 13,976 13,694 13,682 12,686 11,339 (R) 11,257 (R) 11,035 10,440 10,337 10,485
International operations 566 1,280 2,243 1,949 1,747 2,488 3,938 3,888 4,079 4,112 4,325 4,511 4,658 4,962 4,915 5,277 5,508 5,336 5,079 5,219 5,592 5,975 6,018 6,205 6,187 5,721 (R) 6,042 (R) 6,523 6,506 6,487 6,321
Seats per aircraft                                                              
Domestic operations 60.9 83.6 103.1 131.5 143.6 149.6 144.0 143.1 141.9 140.1 136.6 133.2 132.9 132.9 131.5 131.2 128.3 127.1 122.4 114.2 113.7 113.0 112.9 113.4 113.9 115.1 115.5 116.2 117.5 118.8 121.3
International operations 73.3 104.0 109.4 192.1 252.7 266.2 240.2 231.2 227.6 221.1 216.4 216.1 211.5 205.3 200.1 198.3 198.2 194.5 186.0 178.7 177.6 176.2 174.3 176.3 180.7 182.5 178.7 177.0 176.8 180.2 182.4
Seat-miles per gallon                                                              
Domestic operations 26.7 24.4 27.1 28.5 38.4 44.8 46.7 48.6 48.9 48.7 47.8 48.1 48.5 47.7 49.7 48.2 48.9 50.8 53.2 53.3 53.3 54.3 54.5 55.8 57.9 60.3 (R) 61.3 (R) 63.2 67.0 68.5 68.8
International operations 23.6 23.1 23.2 32.9 48.4 44.4 46.4 48.0 50.5 51.5 48.8 47.8 47.4 46.1 48.3 46.0 46.1 46.1 44.8 43.2 44.5 45.3 46.8 47.8 49.6 51.0 (R) 50.0 (R) 48.3 48.0 48.9 51.6
Energy intensity (Btu/passenger-mile)                                                              
Domestic operations 8,633 10,118 10,185 8,532 6,029 4,950 4,767 4,536 4,413 4,457 4,345 4,282 4,096 4,091 3,881 4,009 3,892 3,848 3,608 3,493 3,408 3,232 3,142 3,040 2,936 2,774 (R) 2,691 (R) 2,588 2,428 2,366 2,329
International operations 9,199 10,292 10,986 7,547 4,374 4,586 4,207 4,192 3,963 3,861 3,916 3,932 3,893 3,955 3,854 3,952 3,857 4,039 3,984 4,180 3,890 3,817 3,665 3,572 3,473 3,384 (R) 3,338 (R) 3,519 3,484 3,392 3,260
Load factor (percent)                                                              
Domestic operations 58.5 54.7 48.9 55.6 58.4 60.9 60.6 61.3 62.6 62.2 64.9 65.5 68.0 69.1 69.9 69.8 71.0 69.0 70.4 72.5 74.3 76.9 78.9 79.6 79.4 80.7 81.9 82.5 83.0 83.2 84.3
International operations 62.2 56.8 53.0 54.4 63.8 66.2 69.2 67.1 67.5 67.9 70.6 71.8 73.2 74.1 72.5 74.2 75.9 72.6 75.7 74.8 77.9 78.1 78.7 79.1 78.4 78.2 80.9 79.5 80.7 81.5 80.2

KEY: Btu = British thermal unit; R = revised.

a U.S. owned carriers only. Operations of foreign-owned carriers in or out of the United States not included.

NOTES

Aircraft-miles include all four large certificated air-carrier groups (majors, nationals, large regionals, and medium regionals), scheduled and charter, passenger, and all-cargo. Fuel consumed includes majors, nationals, and large regionals, scheduled and charter, passenger, and all-cargo.

Passenger-miles include all four large certificated air-carrier groups, scheduled and charter, passenger service only.

International operations include operations outside the United States, including those between the United States and foreign countries and the United States and its territories or possessions.

Load factor: Ratio of Passenger-miles to Available seat-miles.

Heat equivalent factor used for Btu conversion is 135,000 Btu/gallon.

SOURCES

Aircraft-miles, available seat-miles, and passenger-miles:

1960-70: Air Transport Association, available at http://www.air-transport.org/ as of July 31, 2002.

1975-2014: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T1: U.S. Air Carrier Traffic and Capacity Summary by Service Class, available at http://www.transtats.bts.gov/Fields.asp?Table_ID=264 as of Oct. 27, 2015.

Fuel consumed:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Airline Fuel Cost and Consumption, available at http://www.transtats.bts.gov/fuel.asp as of Oct. 27, 2015.

Seats per aircraft, seat-miles per gallon, energy intensiveness and load factor:

Derived by calculation.