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Table 4-21M: 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-kilometers (millions)                                                              
Domestic operations 1,381 1,825 3,328 2,635 3,663 4,869 6,378 6,203 6,429 6,689 7,046 7,448 7,736 7,897 8,095 8,572 9,112 8,923 9,033 9,826 10,625 10,809 10,631 10,835 10,374 9,552 9,617 9,663 9,586 9,600 9,571
International operations 293 457 764 537 538 668 1,224 1,298 1,455 1,542 1,570 1,606 1,679 1,793 1,909 1,972 2,063 2,033 1,966 2,030 2,257 2,471 2,599 2,707 2,730 2,574 2,720 2,861 2,845 2,830 2,881
Available seat-kilometers (millions)                                                              
Domestic operations 84,040 152,545 343,048 346,452 525,827 728,641 918,225 887,653 912,562 936,834 962,630 992,094 1,028,392 1,049,334 1,064,768 1,124,715 1,168,853 1,134,267 1,105,983 1,121,732 1,208,459 1,220,953 1,200,573 1,228,864 1,181,646 1,099,892 1,110,304 1,122,966 1,125,881 1,140,065 1,160,784
International operations 21,480 47,529 83,622 103,220 136,011 177,958 293,950 300,091 331,250 340,909 339,746 347,011 355,194 368,039 382,079 391,040 408,850 395,445 365,789 362,739 400,924 435,469 453,112 477,226 493,424 469,712 486,042 506,531 502,879 510,059 525,427
Passenger-kilometers (millions)                                                              
Domestic operations 49,177 83,504 167,608 192,464 307,008 443,959 556,629 544,096 570,938 582,948 625,086 650,033 699,504 725,288 744,730 785,263 829,775 782,956 778,157 813,687 898,327 939,489 947,052 977,779 938,717 887,941 908,788 926,359 934,226 949,018 978,114
International operations 13,367 27,019 44,358 56,109 86,795 117,863 203,361 201,508 223,619 231,369 239,966 249,258 259,928 272,552 277,096 290,115 310,278 287,015 276,945 271,232 312,327 340,094 356,709 377,329 387,033 367,343 393,277 402,752 405,752 415,479 421,256
Fuel consumed (million liters)                                                              
Domestic operations 7,397 14,721 29,742 28,610 32,249 38,289 46,228 43,002 43,903 45,273 47,320 48,498 49,919 51,700 50,358 54,853 56,272 52,496 48,916 49,520 53,339 52,904 51,839 51,791 48,021 42,924 (R) 42,612 (R) 41,774 39,519 39,130 39,691
International operations 2,143 4,845 8,491 7,378 6,614 9,418 14,906 14,717 15,442 15,565 16,373 17,078 17,633 18,782 18,607 19,974 20,850 20,197 19,226 19,755 21,169 22,616 22,779 23,487 23,419 21,657 (R) 22,870 (R) 24,691 24,629 24,557 23,929
Seats per aircraft                                                              
Domestic operations 60.9 83.6 103.1 131.5 143.6 149.6 144.0 143.1 141.9 140.1 136.6 133.2 132.9 132.9 131.5 131.2 128.3 127.1 122.4 114.2 113.7 113.0 112.9 113.4 113.9 115.1 115.5 116.2 116.2 116.2 116.2
International operations 73.3 104.0 109.4 192.1 252.7 266.2 240.2 231.2 227.6 221.1 216.4 216.1 211.5 205.3 200.1 198.3 198.2 194.5 186.0 178.7 177.6 176.2 174.3 176.3 180.7 182.5 178.7 177.0 177.0 177.0 177.0
Seat-kilometers per liter                                                              
Domestic operations 11.4 10.4 11.5 12.1 16.3 19.0 19.9 20.6 20.8 20.7 20.3 20.5 20.6 20.3 21.1 20.5 20.8 21.6 22.6 22.7 22.7 23.1 23.2 23.7 24.6 25.6 (R) 26.1 (R) 26.9 28.5 29.1 29.2
International operations 10.0 9.8 9.8 14.0 20.6 18.9 19.7 20.4 21.5 21.9 20.7 20.3 20.1 19.6 20.5 19.6 19.6 19.6 19.0 18.4 18.9 19.3 19.9 20.3 21.1 21.7 (R) 21.3 (R) 20.5 20.4 20.8 22.0
Energy intensity (kilojoule/passenger-kilometer)                                                              
Domestic operations 5,659 6,633 6,677 5,593 3,952 3,245 3,125 2,974 2,893 2,922 2,848 2,807 2,685 2,682 2,544 2,628 2,552 2,523 2,365 2,290 2,234 2,119 2,060 1,993 1,925 1,819 (R) 1,764 (R) 1,697 1,592 1,551 1,527
International operations 6,031 6,748 7,202 4,948 2,867 3,007 2,758 2,748 2,598 2,531 2,567 2,578 2,552 2,593 2,527 2,591 2,528 2,648 2,612 2,741 2,550 2,502 2,403 2,342 2,277 2,218 (R) 2,188 (R) 2,307 2,284 2,224 2,137
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: R = revised.

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

NOTES

Aircraft-kilometers 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-kilometers 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-kilometers to Available seat-kilometers.

Heat equivalent factor used for conversion is 37,626.7 kilojoules/liter.

1.609344 kilometers = 1 mile.

3.785412 liters = 1 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.