Domestic Flights: Air Freight
Domestic Air Freight Ton-Miles (monthly data, not seasonally adjusted)
Though still much smaller than air passenger transportation, air freight is an
increasingly important revenue source for the air transportation industry. It
includes both freight handled by dedicated air cargo handlers and air cargo shipped
on combined passenger and air freight carriers (passenger luggage is not considered
cargo for this purpose).
Unused ton-miles are the difference between available ton-miles and revenue ton-miles
utilized. Changes in the level of spare capacity might be an indicator of the timely
availability of air freight services. For example, a shipper with a sudden need for
service will be more likely to obtain an appropriate flight when spare capacity is
higher. Space limitations also affect the availability of air freight services.
| Available ton-miles (billions) |
3.85 |
3.88 |
| Percent change from same month previous year |
3.03 |
0.65 |
| Unused ton-miles (billions) |
2.72 |
2.70 |
| Percent change from same month previous year |
1.94 |
-0.65 |
| Revenue ton-miles (billions) |
1.13 |
1.18 |
| Percent change from same month previous year |
5.75 |
3.76 |
NOTES: The current value is compared to the value from the same period
in the previous year to account for seasonality.
A revenue ton-mile is equal to one ton carried one mile and measures
utilization of air-freight services. The data include both transborder and foreign
flights by large U.S. carriers, but not include any flights by foreign carriers.
For those planes that carry both freight and passengers, available freight ton-miles
are calculated by subtracting available seat-miles times 0.1 from total available
ton-miles. The data have been adjusted to have a standard 30-day month by multiplying
the data for each month by the ratio: 30/(actual days in month). These indicators are
components of freight and overall aircraft load factors displayed in ?Aircraft Capacity
Utilization?Passengers and Freight.?
The dramatic changes in the September 2001 data reflect the impact of the terrorist
attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, on aviation, including several days in which commercial air
operations were suspended.
The data reported here excludes small-certificated and commuter carriers that
began reporting T100 data in 2002 for comparability with previous issue.
Refer to the Special Notes at http://www.bts.gov/oai/indicators/top.html for
special concerns regarding the preliminary nature of the most recent data for
latest issue of Air Carriers Traffic Statistics Monthly.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation
Statistics, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics Monthly, November 2003.
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