load factor

American  

noun

1. the amount or weight of cargo, number of passengers, etc., that an aircraft, vehicle, or vessel can carry.

2. the percentage of available seats, space, or maximum carrying weight paid for and used by passengers, shippers, etc..

   An airline can't profit on a 40 percent load factor.

3. Electricity. the ratio of the average load over a designated period of time to the peak load occurring in that period.

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load factor British  

noun

1. the ratio of the average electric load to the peak load over a period of time

2. aeronautics

   1. the ratio of a given external load to the weight of an aircraft

   2. the actual payload carried by an aircraft as a percentage of its maximum payload

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Etymology

Origin of load factor

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Fares increased 4% on average while load factor, a measure of how full its planes are, stood flat at 92% for the quarter, Ryanair said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

That was the first time in six quarters that load factor didn’t miss expectations, according to FactSet data.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 9, 2025

Bigger airplanes with fewer flights create a higher load factor, which leads to more delays impacting more passengers.

From Slate • Jun. 3, 2023

Delta's load factor in the March quarter dropped by 4 percentage points from a quarter ago.

From Reuters • May 10, 2023

The load factor as shown by the chart is about 7 per cent., the use of your investment being not quite twice as long as that of the office building.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 1178, June 25, 1898 by Various