FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
TOPS AND FLOPS REPORT
2) HOW DO YOU READ THE REPORT?
The report is our first monthly 'profitability' style reporting using ranking from a derivative of RASM calculated from the new DB40 report. There are BEST Routes and WORST Routes for just that month and for each of those we have RELATIVE rank and ABSOLUTE rank. RELATIVE equates to something akin to profit margin, while ABSOLUTE would be more like total profit in dollars; although this report uses revenue as proxy for profit and does not discretely track costs.
4) WHAT DO THE COLORS INDICATE?
Data is available by month from DOT starting in July 2025. For subsequent months different colors will be used to reflect moves from the prior month.
No Data Prior Month
Grade Improved by 2 or More Levels from a Month Earlier
Grade Improved by 1 Level from a Month Earlier<
Grade Had No Change from a Month Earlier, but Rank May Change<
Grade Decreased by 1 Level from a Month Earlier
Grade Decreased by 2 or More Levels from a Month Earlier
Inherent ranking grades are the same as used in other profitability reports with Top 20% of routes at a specific airline, followed by each 20% quintile, for 5 grade levels.
5) IS THE DATA QUARTERLY?
The release of DB40/OD40 now allows monthly data. The data shown is for only the month noted.
6) HOW ARE MERGERS HANDLED?
This will be the first report with Alaska/Hawaiian combined and Allegiant/SunCountry combined. Because of differences in ancillary/fare tradeoffs at Allegiant and Sun Country, full fare with average ancillary is part of the calculation.