Most people have explained the term yield on here. In basic terms, it is the amount of revenue generated by the seats available on the airplane. However, there is so much that goes into it.
There are complex math equations that go into calculating yield. But it starts with yield management or basically, inventory control. An airline (or hotel) has to look at historical booking trend data (year over year, same period), leisure traveler versus business traveler, no-shows, events that are/were happening in certain towns (for example, COMDEX in LAS sells out airline seats), empty seats flown and competitive pricing at other airlines.
Then they have to decide, based on the above data, what percentage of seats they will sell at a discounted price versus a full price. There about 10,000 fare changes per day in the airline industry. Yield management's job is to fill airplanes at a profit. They analyze the sale of seats on every flight they are responsible for and determine whether they should raise the price or lower the price.
If seats are not selling, or have not sold close to the departure date, you will often see inventory dumped into the system last minute at substantial savings.
Another important component in yield management is overbooking flights when there is a chance that a passenger will not show up. The airline does not want to fly an empty seat and lose revenue. So they overbook flights, once again based upon historical data, by a certain percentage, to ensure seats are filled. The problem happens when all the passengers show up. Then they have to bump people and pay some sort of compensation. Typical overbook rates are about 10-20%.
Yield management personnel are highly stressed individuals. It takes a special person to work in that department. If you work at an airline, I suggest going to visit that department and watch them in action.
Kathy