FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WEAKEST LINKS REPORT
4) THE DISCONTINUE AND EFFECTIVE DATES ARE WRONG?
6) THE SERVICE DATES DO NOT MATCH THE QUARTERS OF RESULTS?
7) THE ROUTE RESULTS DO NOT MATCH THE SCORES ON THE ROUTE RASM REPORT?
2) WHAT IS INCLUDED?
The goal of the report is to highlight routes that are possibly in danger of elimination, and to provide seasonal context with a year of performance results. This data show the most lowest rated (POOR, marked with the color RED) routes in the most recent Quarter of the ROUTE RASM REPORT for each airline. The ratings of the previous 3 quarters are also shown using the same color coding as the ROUTE RASM REPORT. The approximate start date and end date of the current uninterupted period of service is shown to aid in monitoring if the route is planned to cease.
3) HOW DO I READ THE DATA?
The poorest routes in the most recent quarter are shown.
AL : The IATA airline code for the airline
ROUTE : Non-stop route origin and destination in alphabetical order with the first airport in the alphabet shown first, directions are combined, unlike the Route RASM report
QTR SCORE : The four squares show the performance score for the most recent quarter (furthest right) and previous 3 quarters to the left of it. White indicates no data available or flight didn't operate at least 10 roundtrips during the quarter. Color coding is below.
EFF DATE : The approximate start date of the current uninterupted period of service that included the most recent quarter of performance data. Routes with patchy operational consistency may create errors. If the route began during the most recent quarter of ROUTE RASM data the start date may show the first month of that quarter even if the route actually started later in the quarter. The ----- symbol means the route operated continuously for at least the prior 5 years. A GREEN date means the route is NEW, added within 6 months of the end of the most recent quarter of ROUTE RASM data.
DIS DATE : The approximate end date of the current uninterupted period of service, if there is one. The ----- symbol means there is no suspension or end date in a 7 month future window as of the report date. A RED date means the route is planned to end or be suspended.
The color coded scores used for the QTR SCORE are as follows:
Route Performance Score: Performance is shown among five groups compared only against that airline's other routes.
GREAT (Green) is the best 20% of the airline's RASM results (80% to 100%).
GOOD (Blue) is the next 20% group of routes (60-80%).
FINE (Gray) is the middle group which indicates average performance among that airline's routes (40-60%).
WEAK (Orange) indicates the results for the route are below average for that airline (20-40%). It is important to note that a WEAK route may still be profitable depending upon how profitable the airline as a whole was during that quarter.
POOR (Red) is the lowest group and indicates the route is probably at some risk of being cut (0-20%).
4) THE DISCONTINUE AND EFFECTIVE DATES ARE WRONG?
Seasonal routes and routes that blink on and off wildly make it very difficult to pin down a start date and stop date, so there may be inconsistencies with routes. The intention is to only show periods of continuous service.
6) THE SERVICE DATES DO NOT MATCH THE QUARTERS OF RESULTS?
The ROUTE RASM results require 10 roundtrips during the quarter to be reported, but the monthly schedule data used for the Discontinue and Effective dates do not have a minimum.
7) THE ROUTE RESULTS DO NOT MATCH THE SCORES ON THE ROUTE RASM REPORT?
There should be only slight differences to the ROUTE RASM REPORT, but as methodology changes are made there may be syncing issues where one report has those updates implemented while the other has not yet.
8) WHAT AIRLINES ARE INCLUDED?
Only airlines included in the ROUTE RASM REPORT are included.
9) WHAT DO THE COLORED DATES INDICATE?
A GREEN date means the route is NEW, added within 6 months of the end of the most recent quarter of ROUTE RASM data. A RED date means the route is planned to end or be suspended.