ASM, Available Seat Mile; ASK, Available Seat Kilometer
ASM = Available Seat Mile = one seat, occupied or not, flown one mile. This is the fundamental unit of passenger airline production. Compare to an RPM which is a passenger (rather than a seat) flown one mile.
ASMs are generated by an airline for a particular period . a year, a quarter, a month. For instance, an airplane with 150 seats for sale flown 2000 miles contributes
150 * 2000 = 300,000
ASMs. Add up the ASMs generated for all the flights during that period and that gives you the total capacity the airline generated (in ASM terms) for that period.
Another way of measuring capacity for the period would be in terms of the number of seats flown during the period. Measuring capacity in ASM terms has the advantage of weighing a seat by how far it was flown. 1 seat flown 3000 miles counts the same as 10 seats flown 300 miles.
Note, the seats in question must be available for sale. So if for some reason there are seats on the aircraft that are not for sale (for instance the aircraft is operating close to its maximum range and so is limited in the number of people it can carry) those seats do not count to the ASM total.
Outside of the United States, ASKs (Available Seat Kilometers) are used instead.
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Unit Revenue, RASM, RASK
Unit Revenue = RASM = Revenue / ASM, since the ASM is the fundamental unit of airline production.
Compare to Yield, which is Revenue / RPM.
Revenue for the period in question (month, quarter, year) and ASMs for the period generate unit revenue for the period.
For a mainline airline, the appropriate revenue to use is Passenger Revenue.
Some airlines (such as regional airlines or charter airlines) sell the entire capacity of the aircraft to another airline (both freight and passenger). For such airlines, the appropriate revenue is the revenue generated by that sale since freight and passenger capacity is not sold separately.
Unit revenue is a measure of how successful the airline is at generating revenue from its capacity.
In fact, it is the single best such statistic to use when comparing relative revenue generation across airlines or across time. It is preferable to Yield because Yield measures how successful the airline is at generating revenue only from capacity it sells. An airline should be judged on how successful it is at generating revenue from the capacity it has, however it chooses to sell it (an airline might set its fares high, selling fewer RPMs. Or it might set fares low, selling more RPMs. In either case, the only thing that matters is how successful it is at generating revenue from the capacity -- ASMs -- it generates).
Ensure passenger revenue and ASMs are for the same entity. For instance, a legacy major airline will separately report passenger revenues from mainline flights and passenger revenues from flights flown on its behalf by regional affiliates.
Clearly mainline unit revenue should be calculated with mainline revenue and mainline ASMs only. It is also possible to calculate regional unit revenue and system unit revenue for such airlines, assuming regional ASMs are available.
Outside of the US, Unit Revenue = RASK = Revenue/ASK.
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LCC, Low Cost Carrier
LCC = Low Cost Carrier = carrier with a streamlined, stripped-down service model. Though the name speaks only of low costs, most people think of an LCC as a carrier with a business model built around offering low fares. Of course, if that's your plan you better also have low costs.
The archetypal LCC is Southwest Airlines. Some of Southwest.s features are:
- Flies only a single type of aircraft
- Single class of service
- No advance seat assignments
- No hot meals (packaged snacks only)
- Point-to-point as opposed to hub-and-spoke service pattern
- Business model optimized to reduce costs (as opposed to increase revenues) through efficient use of people and equipment
- Flatter fare structure (lower ratio of business fares to leisure fares in any given market)
However, the term LCC encompasses airlines that differ from Southwest on almost every one of the above points, with the general exception of no hot meals, efficient use of people and equipment and the flatter fare structure.
In the US, the following airlines are generally viewed as LCCs:
Southwest
JetBlue
AirTran
Frontier
ATA
Spirit
In recent years, Alaska has essentially become an LCC, despite its legacy carrier heritage.
The new US Airways has adopted the stock symbol LCC. It was formed from the merger of the old US Airways and America West. America West had significant LCC characteristics. It is clear US Airways aims to be viewed as an LCC going forward, but is also often still referred to as a legacy carrier.
Almost all legacy carriers have, since 9/11, adopted some LCC characteristics, and with the elimination of many on-board amenities there has clearly been a convergence between the on-board experiences of LCC and legacy carrier passengers.
In some cases the on-board experience of LCC passengers may now be superior. Southwest has some of the best economy class leg-room in the industry, for instance. JetBlue has seat-back TVs, as does Frontier. AirTran has XM radio.
In the end, being an LCC may be a philosophical difference as much as anything else, of offering a reasonable fare even when the airline does not have to (i.e. monopoly route).
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Legacy Carrier, Legacy Airline, Legacy Major Airline
A reference to a traditional airline that was developed prior to deregulation, as distinct from low cost carriers (LCCs). For instance, in the US, legacy carrier is a term that is generally used to refer to:
American Airlines
United Airlines
Delta Airlines
Continental Airlines
Northwest Airlines
US Airways
Characteristics of legacy airlines include:
- Offer both first and economy class service
- Hub-and-spoke networks, international service, big regional affiliate system
- Elaborate frequent flyer programs
- Airport lounges
- Presence at key slot-controlled airports, such as New York LaGuardia, Washington (DC) National & Chicago O.Hare
- Relatively complex fleet structures
- Member of a global alliance
- Difficult labor relations
- Complex fare structure, steep fare structure (high ratio of highest to lowest fares in a given market).
- Business plan historically more focused on maximizing revenue than minimizing cost
The name .legacy. is apt in light of the baggage these carriers carry. Legacy airlines were established long before deregulation in 1979 but have been relatively slow growing. They therefore have older workforces than LCCs. Since wages increase with seniority, this alone gives them an additional burden.
Further, under regulation, the government protected airlines from competition. Unions were therefore relatively free to demand whatever they wanted, because government would ensure the survival of the companies. Airlines unions were strong and also had a strong feeling of entitlement. Labor relations were poor, another unfortunate legacy.
In the upturn of the late 1990s, legacy airlines were under great pressure from unions to increase wages, and did. Post 9/11, legacy carriers have made enormous losses, resulting in significant wage givebacks, bankruptcies, and the collapse of many legacy airline defined benefit pension plans.
Of the six carriers listed above, only (as of January 2006) Continental and American have escaped bankruptcy. The others are either in it (United, Delta, Northwest) or have been through it (US Airways, twice).
To survive, legacy carriers have adopted many LCC strategies, including fleet simplification, elimination of on-board amenities and less complex fare structures, including a flatter fare structure. Some carriers have tried to essentially turn each hub into a pseudo-LCC operation. For instance, American has isolated individual aircraft types at individual hubs and has adjusted schedules to use people and assets efficiently, even at the expense of some revenue opportunity.
However, although some legacies are seeking to establish an LCC identity (in particular, US Airways), we do not think that any of them have truly adopted an LCC mindset.
Some people will use the term Major Airline as a short-hand for legacy airline. In the US a major carrier is defined by the DOT as one that has over $1 billion in annual revenue. When LCCs were small, there was a natural distinction between majors on the one hand and LCCs on the other. But Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue, for instance, are all major airlines that are also LCCs. So this short-hand, while still used by some people, is less and less appropriate. Legacy major is a better term.
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Yield
Yield = Revenue / RPM.
Compare to unit revenue or RASM = Revenue / ASM.
Revenue for the period in question (month, quarter, year) and RPMs for the period generate Yield for the period.
For a mainline airline, the appropriate revenue to use is Passenger Revenue.
Yield is a measure of how successful the airline is at getting revenue from the capacity that it sells, rather than the capacity it generates. For instance, if Yield goes up, the airline is getting a higher average fare/mile.
Ensure passenger revenue and RPMs are for the same entity. For instance, a legacy major airline will separately report passenger revenues from mainline flights and passenger revenues from flights flown on its behalf by regional affiliates.
Clearly mainline unit revenue should be calculated with mainline revenue and mainline ASMs only. It is also possible to calculate regional yield and system yield for such airlines, assuming regional RPMs are available.
Outside of the US, yield = Revenue/RPK.
For some airlines (such as regional airlines or charter airlines) yield is a meaningless concept. These airlines sell the entire capacity of the airplane to another party, and it is up to that party to sell the seats. Since the regional doesn.t sell the seats (and largely doesn.t care how many seats are sold) yield is irrelevant to the regional.
Note that the regional yield referred to earlier in the context of a legacy major is yield the legacy sees from selling seats on the aircraft capacity that it buys from its regional partners.
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Load Factor, Loadfactor
Load Factor = RPMs/ASMs = RPKs/ASKs expressed as a percentage
Load Factor is the standard measure of how successful an airline has been in selling seats over a particular period . a year, a quarter, a month, etc.
For instance, if the airline has generated 150 million RPMs on flights during the period and 200 million ASMs, then the load factor in that period is:
150 million/200 million = 75%
Note that load factor, in and of itself, is not enough to say whether the airline did well during that period. For instance, a load factor of 90% sounds very impressive, but less so if the airline collected a ticket price of only $10 per passenger.
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RPM, Revenue Passenger Mile; RPK, Revenue Passenger Kilometer
RPM = Revenue Passenger Mile = one paying passenger flown one mile. This is the standard unit of airline passenger traffic. Compare to an ASM, which is a seat . occupied or not . flown one mile rather than a passenger flown one mile.
RPMs are generated by an airline for a particular period . a year, a quarter, a month. For instance, an airplane with 100 paying passengers flown 2000 miles contributes
100 * 2000 = 200,000
RPMs. Add up the RPMs generated for all the flights during that period and that gives you the total traffic the airline carried during that period in RPM terms.
Another way of measuring traffic would just be in passenger terms. Measuring traffic in RPM terms has the advantage of weighing each passenger by how far s/he flew. A passenger flown 3000 miles counts the same as 10 passengers each flown 300 miles.
Note, the passengers in question must be paying. This gets into the distinction of what counts as a paying passenger. A pilot .jump seating. (even if he.s actually sitting in a first class seat) doesn.t count because he doesn.t pay. Frequent flyer passengers are generally considered to be paying passengers, but not on all airlines.
Outside of the United States, RPKs (Revenue Passenger Kilometers) are used instead.
Note, for some airlines that sell capacity to others, such as regional or charter airlines, the concept of RPMs doesn't apply. A regional airline sells the whole capacity of its aircraft to its legacy major partner(s), which in turn sells the seats. Since the regional doesn't sell seats, and since it gets essentially the same money however many seats the legacy sells, RPMs isn't a relevant concept for the regional.
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Passenger Revenue
Passenger revenue for an airline for a particular period (month, quarter, year) are passenger ticket revenues for the flights flown during that period.So, for instance, passenger revenue for that period does not include revenue for tickets bought in advance for a flight at some time after that period. Revenue is earned when flown.However:Passenger revenue does NOT include:- Government fees and taxes passengers pay as part of the ticket
- Ticket change fees, refund fees or other passenger penalties
Passenger revenues DO include things like:- Fuel surcharges (or any other item that the airline adds to every ticket price and keeps for itself)
(note, some non-US airlines . notably British Airways . do not include fuel surcharges in passenger revenue)
Some airlines (such as regionals, or charter carriers) do not report a separate passenger revenue line because they sell the entire capacity of the aircraft to others. For them, a breakout into separate cargo and freight revenues does not make sense.
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SEC Data for US Airlines
See explanatory notes at the bottom
This cheat sheet is for our convenience. We may stop updating it or delete it entirely if we find it to be a burden.
Disclaimer: anyone who suffers losses because of relying on data found for free on an anonymous website has only him/herself to blame. Use this material at your own risk.
MainlineAll 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders AMR (parent of American)
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders American (also files separately)
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Continental
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Delta
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Northwest
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders UAL (parent of United)
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders US Airways
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders America West (now part of US Airways)
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Southwest
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders JetBlueAll 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders AirTran
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Alaska
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Frontier
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders HawaiianAll 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders ATAAll 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Midwest Airlines
Regional
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders SkyWest
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Republic
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Mesa
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders MAIR Holdings (parent of Mesaba)
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders ExpressJet
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Pinnacle
Charter/Other
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders World
Dead
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders TWA
All 10-K/Q 8-Ks S-forms Prospectuses Outsiders Insiders Independence Air
The above is not a comprehensive list of SEC airline filings
Click here for a list of all scheduled (passenger or freight) airlines with filings on EDGAR
Click here for a list of all non-scheduled (passenger or freight) airlines with filings on EDGAR (this includes ATA & World)Click here for a list of all "air courier" companies with filings on EDGAR (this includes FedEx)
Notes:
All companies with US registered securities (essentially those which the average US resident may own) must file data with the US Securities Exchange Commission. Spirit Air is an example of an airline that does not file with the SEC. All its securities are privately held, therefore it does not file. Foreign airlines also file to the extent they have issued US registered securities. COPA and British Airways are two such.
Note, US carriers must also file separately with the US Department of Transportation, regardless of whether they file with the SEC.
SEC reports for US companies include (and this is not an exhaustive list, see EDGAR (pdf) for that):
10-Ks: Annual filing
10-Qs: Quarterly filings, filed the other three quarters the 10-K is not
8-Ks: periodic releases of material information, such as management investor updates. Most, but not all airlines file monthly traffic info as an 8-K.
S-forms: registration of securities. The S-1 is the form used to register an IPO, for instance
Prospectuses: of securities, includes such forms as 423 and 424
Further, outsiders must file significant purchases and sales of stock, according to certain criteria
Further, significant insiders must file purchases and sales of stock
All such data is filed with the SEC through the EDGAR system, to which this page links.
However, many airlines have both an operating company (e.g. American Airlines, Inc.) and a holding company (e.g. AMR is the holding company for American Airlines). When analyzing a stock, the most relevant entity is generally the holding company, but to analyze the airline, it may be useful to look at the operating entity as well. A reason both entities file is that some securities have been issued by the operating entity instead of the holding company.
In many cases, filings for the operating entity and holding company are identical or very similar (the holding company filing may include operating company information and the same filing used for both entities). In some cases they differ. For instance, in the case of American Airlines and AMR, AMR owns both American Airlines and American Eagle (which is actually two distinct airlines itself) as well as some other non-airline companies. American purchases services from American Eagle. In the AMR accounts the American-American Eagle transactions wash out, but in the American Airlines accounts, American Eagle is a vendor (and to a lesser extent, a customer).
To complicate matters further, some companies have had several legal identities over their lives, which may have separate listings in EDGAR, We have listed the current listings only. If you require earlier data, you will have to go to the links to the listings provided above.
To complicate matters further, electronic listings date only from the mid-1990s. Earlier data has to be viewed in paper form at SEC offices or through a commercial vendor.
US Airline Earnings Releases
Warning, if an airline later restates earnings that won't necessarily be captured here.
Warning, this cheat sheet is for our convenience. If it becomes a burden we may stop updating it or eliminate it completely.
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Period ending December 31, 2005
JetBlue, Feb 1, 2006United, Jan 27, 2006
Frontier Jan 26, 2006Midwest Jan 26, 2006
Midwest Correction
Alaska Jan 26, 2006Mesa Jan 25, 2006ExpressJet Jan 24, 2006
AirTran Jan 24, 2006American Jan 18, 2006
Southwest Jan 18, 2006
Continental Jan 17, 2006