Yield is defined as which of the following?

• A. The average amount of revenue earned per passenger mile
• B. The total revenue per flight
• C. The number of passengers per flight
• D. The fare price for the cheapest seat

Answer: (A)

Yield is the revenue earned for each mile a paying passenger travels. It’s calculated by dividing total passenger revenue by the total revenue passenger miles (the sum of miles flown by all paying passengers). This gives dollars per passenger mile, showing how pricing and fare structure translate into revenue per distance flown. For example, if a flight’s passengers pay a total of $300,000 and they collectively fly 300,000 passenger miles, the yield is $1 per passenger mile. This differs from total revenue per flight, which ignores distance, and from the number of passengers per flight or the cheapest fare, which don’t reflect revenue earned per mile traveled.