Services Price Indexes
Starting in September 2008 the Import Air Passenger Fares Indexes represent changes in the average revenue per passenger received by foreign carriers from U.S. residents and are calculated from data obtained from an airline consulting service. These data include tickets sold by travel agencies and travel websites. Tickets sold directly by the airlines are excluded, as are frequent flyer tickets generally. Starting in January 2008 the Export Air Passenger Fares Indexes represent changes in the average revenue per passenger received by U.S. carriers from foreign residents and are calculated from data collected directly from airlines. These data include frequent flyer tickets and those sold by consolidators. Taxes and fees are included in the Import Air Passenger Fares Index and excluded from the Export Air Passenger Fares Index. The Air Freight Indexes are calculated from data collected directly from airlines. These data exclude mail and passenger baggage. The scope of the service being priced is the movement of freight from airport to airport only, and does not include any ground transportation or port service. The Air Freight Indexes are presented using two definitions: Balance of Payments (which represent transactions between U.S. and foreign residents) and International (which represent transactions inbound to and outbound from the U.S.). Fact sheets specifying detailed information for each services industry are available at http://www.bls.gov/mxp under "MXP Publications."
