Load factor in aviation

Load factor in aviation is the percentage of available seating capacity that is filled with passengers on a flight. It is a metric used to measure an airline’s efficiency in filling seats, indicating how well an airline is utilizing its capacity. 

The metric is calculated by dividing the number of passengers by the number of available seats and multiplying by 100. For example, if a flight has 200 seats and 135 of those are occupied by passengers, this means 67.5 percent of the available seats are filled. (135/200)*100=67.5 

Running flights with low load factors (lots of empty seats) is inefficient because the costs of operating the flight (fuel, crew, maintenance) remain relatively constant, regardless of how many passengers are on board. A higher load factor (lots of filled seats) means that an airline is using its resources more efficiently, generating more revenue per flight.

If a route consistently has low load factors, an airline might consider reducing the frequency of flights or replacing the aircraft with a smaller one. Conversely, routes with high load factors could lead to more flights or switching to larger aircraft.