Passenger load factor, or load factor, measures the capacity utilization of public transport services like airlines, passenger railways, and intercity bus services. It is generally used to assess how efficiently a transport provider fills seats and generates fare revenue.

According to the International Air Transport Association, the worldwide load factor for the passenger airline industry during 2015 was 79.7%.[1]

## Overview

Passenger load factor is an important parameter for the assessment of the performance of any transport system. Almost all transport systems have high fixed costs, and these costs can only be recovered through selling tickets.[2] Airlines often calculate a load factor at which the airline will break even; this is called the break-even load factor.[3] At a load factor lower than the break even level, the airline will lose money, and above will record a profit.

The environmental performance of any transport mode improves as the load factor increases. The weight of passengers is normally a small part of the total weight of any transport vehicle, so increasing the number of passengers changes the emissions and fuel consumption to only a small degree. As a vehicle is more highly loaded, the fuel consumed per passenger drops, and fully loaded transport vehicles can be very fuel efficient.

${\displaystyle {\frac {(5\ flights)(200\ km/flight)(60\ passengers)}{(5\ flights)(200\ km/flight)(100\ seats)}}={\frac {60,000\ passenger\cdot km}{100,000\ seat\cdot km}}=0.6=60\%}$