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.

Air Cargo Revenue Tonne-Kilometre Calculator

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.

Example and tips

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. 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.