Passenger kilometer

Passenger-kilometers or passenger kilometers ( pkm ) is a measure of the transport service or transport service in the relocation of persons or passengers. It is measured as the product of the transported persons or passengers and thereby distance traveled ( distance from the starting point and destination ) in kilometers (km). This size is input into the economic and statistical surveys of transport companies, and ally of states.

In countries where the metric system is not common ( eg USA, UK, Liberia, etc.), instead of the passenger or passenger kilometer expected passenger miles.

The sum of persons notwithstanding this can be taken into account when calculating the load capacity by a statistical average weight per person; traffic performance is then measured in tonne-kilometers.

Commercial importance

Passenger kilometer is a general measure of the services to be provided transport capacity of persons, regardless of the purpose for which and the way in which the change takes place. Importance acquired this unit, especially in the commercial passenger transport. In German-speaking passenger kilometers was also used for passengers carried, the German Passenger Transport Act speaks in public transport also of " people - kilometers ".

With globalization and under significant influence of international aviation, the term passenger kilometer is used increasingly.

The passenger or passenger kilometer is one of the most important figures in passenger transport. He is not only a measure of the planning, execution, billing and statistics commercially rendered transport services, but is an economically important variable, for from it the achievable transport revenue can be determined. Abbreviated as being free or very cheap to transporting people, such as infants or children this value with pkm ( German ) or RPK for Revenue Passenger Kilometers ( English) so the mileage of the revenue generating passengers ( busy passenger kilometers ), up to a certain age, not be included.

A distinction is further

• Available transport performance ( PKO, passenger kilometers offered) and
• The actual transport performance ( PKT, passenger kilometers transported ).
• Another common name for the available transport performance is SKO ( seat kilometers offered ).

Since the driven or flown kilometers are often priced in tariffs, the price ( consideration of customers for the transport power) results from the product of the number of passengers times kilometers tariff price.

Distinction passenger kilometers / passenger kilometers

In the strict sense of the passenger kilometers as the unit only in the commercial passenger makes sense. It reflects the performance of a service provided for the passengers carried, the transport undertaking. In terms of passengers ( passengers, customers) passenger-kilometers and passenger-kilometers are the same. For still possible physical distinction between the two terms, however, following simplified examples may serve:

A) An airplane can carry a maximum of one hundred passengers 10,000 km wide.

B ) Even worse is the ratio of a bicycle taxi for two passengers. The driver must be at a distance of 1000 m carrying three persons, the capacity is 3 persons kilometers, but as revenue passenger kilometers are at most 2.

Special features in air traffic

For the determination of passenger-kilometers, the distance between two points is determined theoretically, so detours ignored. In the global transport the geodesic ( great circle distance ) is used to determine this distance, ie the shortest distance between two points on the earth's surface. Because the nature of over one year results in a huge number, it is stated in millions or billions.

Passenger kilometers are used in practice to compare airlines together. They are considered much more meaningful than other variables, such as revenue, fleet size or number of destinations. In terms of passenger kilometers measured the U.S. airlines American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were in recent years alternately at a considerable distance the largest airlines in the world. However, after the fusion of KLM and Air France, the new airline could join this trio to do so.