Passenger kilometers
Persons kilometers or passenger kilometers (PKM) is in the change of location of persons or passengers a unit for the transport capacity or transport performance . It is measured as the product of the persons or passengers transported and the distance covered ( distance from start and destination) in kilometers (km). This variable is included in the economic and statistical surveys of transport companies , transport associations and states .
In countries in which the metric system is not used (e.g. USA, Great Britain, Liberia and others), passenger miles are used instead of passenger or passenger kilometers .
In deviation from this, the total of people can be taken into account when determining the payload using a statistically determined average weight per person; the traffic performance is then measured in tonne kilometers .
Commercial importance
Passenger-kilometer is a general unit of measurement for the transport service to be provided by people, regardless of the purpose and the way in which the change of location takes place. This unit is particularly important in commercial passenger traffic. In German-speaking countries, passenger kilometers were also used for passengers carried; the German Passenger Transport Act also speaks of “passenger kilometers” in public passenger transport.
With globalization and under the significant influence of international air traffic, the term passenger kilometers is increasingly used.
The person or passenger kilometers are one of the most important indicators in passenger traffic. It is not only a measure for the planning, implementation, accounting and statistics of commercially provided transport services, but is also an economically important variable, because it can be used to determine the transport revenues that can be achieved. This value is abbreviated to Pkm (German) or RPK for Revenue Passenger Kilometers (English), i.e. the kilometers of the profitable passengers (passenger kilometers used to capacity), whereby free or very cheap passengers, such as. B. Infants or children up to a certain age are not included.
One also differentiates
- the offered transport service ( PKO , English passenger kilometers offered ) and
- the actual transport performance ( PKT , English passenger kilometers transported ).
- Another common name for the available transport performance is SKO ( English seat kilometers offered ).
Since the kilometers driven or flown are often priced in tariffs , the price (consideration by the customer for the transport service) is the product of the number of passengers times the tariff kilometer price .
Differentiation between passenger kilometers and passenger kilometers
In a narrower sense, the passenger kilometer as a unit of measurement only makes sense in commercial passenger traffic. It reflects the services provided by a transport company for passengers . In relation to passengers (passengers, customers), passenger kilometers and passenger kilometers are identical. However, the following simplified examples can be used for the physical differentiation between the two terms, which is still possible :
- An aircraft can carry a maximum of 100 passengers 10,000 km
Transport performance (general): 6-person crew + 100 customers times 10,000 km results in 1,060,000 passenger-kilometers , for which the aircraft as a transport machine must be dimensioned in terms of load capacity and fuel in addition to its own weight. Passenger performance (commercial): 100 customers times 10,000 km, on the other hand, results in 1,000,000 passenger kilometers on the same flight , for which the transport company can expect maximum income.
- The ratio is even less favorable with a bicycle taxi for two passengers
The driver has to transport three people over a distance of 1000 m, the service is 3 person-kilometers, but no more than 2 passenger-kilometers are recognized as revenue.
Special features in air traffic
To determine the passenger kilometers (also seat kilometers or English revenue passenger kilometers ), the distance between two locations is theoretically determined, so detours are ignored. In global traffic, the orthodrome ( great circle distance ) is used to determine this distance, i.e. the shortest connection between two points on the earth's surface. Because this naturally gives a huge number over a year, it is given in millions or billions. Only paying passengers are included.
In practice, passenger kilometers are used to compare airlines with one another. They are considered to be much more meaningful than other variables, such as B. Turnover, fleet size or number of destination airports. In terms of passenger kilometers, the US airlines American Airlines , Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have been by far the largest airlines in the world.
statistics
In statistics, for example , the measured number of person- kilometers plays a role when the various purposes of the journey are examined. In Germany, for example, commuter traffic is an important component of individual traffic and, after vacation and leisure traffic, has the second highest share of passenger traffic (measured in passenger kilometers):
| Passenger traffic expenditure by purpose of travel (in billions of passenger kilometers ) |
2003 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Vacation and leisure traffic | 43.6% | 38.9% |
| Professional and training traffic | 20.4% | 20.5% |
| Shopping traffic | 17.2% | 15.8% |
| Business and official travel | 12.5% | 20.2% |
| Escort trips | 5.2% | 4.6% |
After that, vacation and leisure travel is still the leader, but business and official travel has increased its share significantly. The other transports have hardly changed.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ z. B. in § 45a Abs. 2 Satz 1 PbefG (PDF; 141 kB) accessed January 29, 2009
- ↑ Verkehrswerkstatt Lexikon ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 29, 2009.
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Information (ed.): Traffic figures 2019/2020 , 2019, p. 235
