Airlines watching one number, and willing it to rise
A rebound in bookings and flights has the aviation industry closely watching the ratio of seats being filled, a crucial measure of demand and a guide to profitability. Yet an equally consequential number will need to be tracked if we are to understand whether the sector has truly recovered from the Covid-19 epidemic. Passenger load factor, a commonly used measure that shows the percentage of capacity utilised, stands at 81.3% in Asia for the year to end-September. That is a huge jump from 69.2% a year ago, and roughly in line with the level recorded for the same period in 2019. Yet operators are running well below pre-pandemic levels, so such standard metrics do not tell the whole story, and indicate that while passengers may be returning, economic uncertainty is holding them back from taking as many flights as they used to. Airlines around the region are being hit on multiple fronts. First, they fired so much of their workforces that many now lack enough pilots, cabin crew and ground staff to operate aircraft. Cathay Pacific Airways says personnel levels are sufficient for its current schedule, yet it will add 4,000 people in 2023 and needs to double the number of staff it trained in 2022. Carriers also parked their jets in the desert during lockdowns and are still bringing them back home to run the required checks to get the aircraft back into service. Then there are supply chain bottlenecks caused by the pandemic, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, and a shortage of staff across sectors from technology to food service. These compounding issues range from slow delivery of new planes and a recent scandal around spare parts to catering and replacement tap fixtures. To help gauge airline health, the industry has a slew of abbreviations. Among the most cited is RPK, or revenue passenger kilometre, which multiplies the number of fare-paying commuters by the distance each person flew. The cargo equivalent is RTK (revenue tonne kilometres). To chart how many an airline could have flown, it uses ASK (available seat kilometres) and ATK (available freight tonnage kilometres). Story has more.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-11-30/general/airlines-watching-one-number-and-willing-it-to-rise
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Airlines watching one number, and willing it to rise
A rebound in bookings and flights has the aviation industry closely watching the ratio of seats being filled, a crucial measure of demand and a guide to profitability. Yet an equally consequential number will need to be tracked if we are to understand whether the sector has truly recovered from the Covid-19 epidemic. Passenger load factor, a commonly used measure that shows the percentage of capacity utilised, stands at 81.3% in Asia for the year to end-September. That is a huge jump from 69.2% a year ago, and roughly in line with the level recorded for the same period in 2019. Yet operators are running well below pre-pandemic levels, so such standard metrics do not tell the whole story, and indicate that while passengers may be returning, economic uncertainty is holding them back from taking as many flights as they used to. Airlines around the region are being hit on multiple fronts. First, they fired so much of their workforces that many now lack enough pilots, cabin crew and ground staff to operate aircraft. Cathay Pacific Airways says personnel levels are sufficient for its current schedule, yet it will add 4,000 people in 2023 and needs to double the number of staff it trained in 2022. Carriers also parked their jets in the desert during lockdowns and are still bringing them back home to run the required checks to get the aircraft back into service. Then there are supply chain bottlenecks caused by the pandemic, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, and a shortage of staff across sectors from technology to food service. These compounding issues range from slow delivery of new planes and a recent scandal around spare parts to catering and replacement tap fixtures. To help gauge airline health, the industry has a slew of abbreviations. Among the most cited is RPK, or revenue passenger kilometre, which multiplies the number of fare-paying commuters by the distance each person flew. The cargo equivalent is RTK (revenue tonne kilometres). To chart how many an airline could have flown, it uses ASK (available seat kilometres) and ATK (available freight tonnage kilometres). Story has more.<br/>
