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BITRE | Report 115Most regional air routes were low density routes and served by a single operator. Asshown, the number of regional air routes serving less than 1000 passengers has beenthe highest relative to other route density groups at each point in time. However,the actual number of these regional air routes has continued to fall over time. Mostof these routes were predominantly served by a single operator. In contrast, thenumber of regional air routes serving more than 100 000 passengers has increasedslowly over time. As expected, such high density routes have been able to attract andsupport two or more operators. One noticeable change in 2005 was that there weremore sole operators in the density group of 50 000–99 999 than before.3.3 Air service demand and capacity on regionalroutesFigure 3.11 shows total air service demand measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres(RPKs) and total air service capacity measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) on allregional air routes. In 1984, the RPKs on all regional air routes totalled 3.8 billion and theASKs totalled 5.7 billion. In 2005, the RPKs on all regional air routes totalled 17.1 billionand the ASKs on all regional air routes totalled 23 billion. The total load factor has beenfluctuated at around 70 per cent on all regional air routes for the past 22 years.Figure 3.11 Revenue passenger kilometres and available seat kilometres,1984 to 2005 8251002080Kilometres (billions)Source:74151050198419851986198719881989BITRE time series estimates.1990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005Total load factor Available seat kilometres Revenue passenger kilometresOver the past 22 years, the total load factor of regional air routes between major citiesand regional areas has consistently stayed above 70 per cent, while the total load factorof all regional air routes between regional areas increased from less than 60 per centin the period before 1991 to close to 70 per cent in recent years (Figure 3.12).8. Total load factor was derived from dividing total RPKs by total ASKs of all regional air routes in a year. Averageload factor was derived from taking the average of all load factors on regional air routes in a year.6040200Load factor (per cent)