BTS Insights / Atlas / Analytics Deep Dive
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The Stats Behind the Network

Efficiency, profitability, market structure — the analytical layer beneath the route map.

58.5%
of US routes are monopolies
29,354 of 50,161 city-pairs
−$37
Spirit lost per passenger
FY 2024 net income / pax
4,439
Frontier pax per employee
Highest ULCC labor efficiency
1,702mi
United avg stage length
Longest of any US carrier
149%
Legacy carrier recovery
2025 seats vs 2021

Efficiency Frontier

Gauge (seats/departure) × Stage length (miles) — bubble size = passengers carried all-time. Quadrants reveal carrier strategy at a glance.

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Profitability vs Scale

Revenue ($B) × Net margin — bubble size = passengers carried in 2024. The horizontal line is break-even. Carriers above the line made money; below lost it.

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Productivity Leaderboard

FY 2024 financials — three lenses on how efficiently each carrier converts capital and labor into revenue.

Revenue per Passenger
Higher = premium pricing power
Passengers per Employee
Higher = labor efficiency
Profit per Passenger
Diverging — red = net loss per seat

Hub Concentration

Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) measures market power — sum of squared carrier pax-shares. Higher = more dominated by one carrier.

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HHI Scale
Concentrated > 0.25
Moderate 0.15–0.25
Competitive < 0.15
A single carrier with 100% share = HHI of 1.0. Duopoly = ≈0.5.

Carrier-Type Breakdown

All-time passenger share by carrier type, plus post-pandemic recovery trajectory (2025 seats ÷ 2021 seats).

All-Time Pax Share
COVID Recovery (2025 vs 2021 Seats)

Route Competition

Across 50,161 US city-pairs — how many carry monopoly vs duopoly vs competitive service?

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Biggest Monopoly Routes
Most Competitive Routes

Year-over-Year Growth

2025 vs 2024 seat capacity change by carrier — sorted by growth rate.

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