What is a revenue tonne-kilometre (RTK)?

An RTK is one tonne of paying cargo carried one kilometre. It is the standard unit of air cargo traffic, calculated as actual revenue payload in tonnes multiplied by the stage distance in kilometres. RTKs are summed across all sectors to measure total cargo output.

How does ATK differ from RTK?

Available tonne-kilometres (ATK) measure capacity rather than traffic: maximum payload in tonnes multiplied by distance. ATK is what the aircraft could have carried, while RTK is what it actually carried. The ratio of the two is the weight load factor.

What is a good cargo load factor?

Weight load factor is RTK divided by ATK. Freighter operations often target 65 to 80 percent; belly cargo on passenger flights varies widely. A load factor above 80 percent on a dedicated freighter indicates strong demand and tight capacity discipline.

How is cargo yield calculated?

Yield is revenue divided by RTK, giving revenue per tonne-kilometre. It lets you compare profitability across routes of different lengths and payloads. Falling yield with rising load factor can signal under-pricing of available capacity.

Does this account for volumetric (dimensional) weight?

This tool uses actual weight in tonnes. In practice, low-density cargo is charged on volumetric weight, so the revenue payload you enter should reflect chargeable weight where dimensional weight exceeds actual weight.

What is the Air Cargo Revenue Tonne-Kilometre Calculator?

Computes revenue tonne-kilometres, available tonne-kilometres, and weight load factor from actual payload, route distance, and maximum payload. Airline cargo operations and revenue management teams use this for performance reporting and yield management. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Air Cargo Revenue Tonne-Kilometre Calculator

Name: Air Cargo Revenue Tonne-Kilometre Calculator
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Revenue tonne-kilometres are the fundamental output metric of air cargo, and load factor is the headline efficiency measure. This calculator turns a single sector’s payload, distance, and capacity into RTK, ATK, weight load factor, and yield per tonne-kilometre, the figures used in airline cargo performance reporting.

How it works

The metrics derive from payload multiplied by distance:

RTK            = revenue payload (tonnes) × distance (km)
ATK            = maximum payload (tonnes) × distance (km)
load factor %  = RTK / ATK × 100
yield per RTK  = revenue / RTK

Because both RTK and ATK scale with the same distance, the load factor reduces to revenue payload divided by maximum payload, but tracking RTK and ATK in absolute terms lets you sum traffic and capacity across a whole network.

Why these four metrics matter for cargo operations

RTK (revenue tonne-kilometres) is the supply-side measure of what actually moved. It is additive across sectors: you can sum RTK across every flight in a month to get total cargo output for the network. Airlines and freight forwarders use it to track market share because it adjusts for both the volume carried and the distance flown — a carrier that runs long hauls looks larger on RTK than one running equal tonnes over short sectors.

ATK (available tonne-kilometres) is the capacity equivalent. The difference between ATK and RTK is capacity that flew empty, which is the direct cost of under-utilisation. Comparing RTK and ATK across routes tells you where capacity is being wasted versus where it is constrained.

Weight load factor (RTK / ATK × 100) is the efficiency ratio. It is the most common KPI in cargo scheduling and revenue management. A route with consistently high load factor and low yield may be under-priced; high yield and low load factor may signal an opportunity to increase frequency.

Yield per RTK (revenue / RTK) is the profitability measure. It normalises revenue per unit of productive output across routes of different lengths and payload mixes, making routes comparable. A short dense route and a long thin route may have similar total revenue but very different yields.

Worked example

For example: a freighter flying a 6,000 km sector with 80 tonnes of revenue cargo against a maximum payload of 110 tonnes produces 480,000 RTK and 660,000 ATK, a 72.7 percent weight load factor. If that sector earned 96,000 in cargo revenue, the yield is 0.20 per RTK.

For comparison, a 3,000 km sector with 100 tonnes of revenue cargo against a 110-tonne maximum produces 300,000 RTK and 330,000 ATK — a 90.9 percent load factor. If it earned 75,000, the yield is 0.25 per RTK. The shorter sector earns less in total but more per unit of capacity deployed, which is the trade-off revenue management teams optimise.

Dimensional weight and chargeable weight

This calculator uses actual weight in tonnes. In practice, low-density cargo is charged by carriers using volumetric (dimensional) weight when it exceeds actual weight. The industry standard formula for air cargo is length × width × height (cm) / 6,000 = volumetric weight in kg. When volumetric weight exceeds actual weight, revenue payload for this calculation should use the chargeable weight — the higher of the two — rather than actual gross weight, to reflect the revenue the carrier is actually earning.

Tips

When comparing routes, use yield rather than total revenue: a short, full sector can out-earn a long, half-empty one per unit of capacity deployed.
Aggregate RTK and ATK across all sectors to produce network load factor for a period.
A route with load factor above 80 percent consistently is typically at or near optimal utilisation for a dedicated freighter; belly cargo benchmarks vary more widely.
Track yield trends over time alongside load factor — improving load factor with declining yield signals rate competition or a mix shift toward lower-value commodities.