payload
There’s a line in commercial aviation that invariably causes insiders to grin – passengers are “self-loading freight”.
Commercial aviation is all about payload. How much revenue can an airplane generate from its payload? The dream is to develop the lightest aircraft possible, ensuring its carrying capacity is maximized.
Given this focus on payload, what does the data show us? Using USDOT data, we developed a model that reports payloads and are sharing this today. The report, therefore, is US-centric, but provides valuable guidelines for any operator.
The model provides insight into airlines and key airports. We limit the airports to the top 20 for brevity. Six pages offer a thorough exploration of the data cube. For example, we report on mail volumes, which is typically something that goes unreported.
Because the focus is on the US domestic market, these payloads are typically carried by single-aisle aircraft. Page three shows that the typical payload is around 13 tons per flight. We calculate payload as freight plus mail plus passengers (using the DOT guide of 200 pounds/passenger).
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