Load factor

The percentage of seats filled — the airline industry’s occupancy metric, running in the mid-80s system-wide in recent years. Cabin-level load factors are what buyers actually feel: premium cabins on flagship routes sell out while the same flight’s economy has rows free, and vice versa on thin routes. Load patterns are also why negotiated space appears where it does — contracts fill seats forecasting says will otherwise fly empty, which is the entire economic logic of the private channel.