BTS 58-21
Monday, September 20, 2021
Contact: Todd Solomon
Tel: 202-366-0573
todd.solomon@dot.gov
U.S. Scheduled Passenger Airlines Employ 2.1% More Employees in
July 2021 than June, Still 10.5% Behind Pre-Pandemic July 2019
July 2021 Infographic
The 23 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 2.1% more
full-time equivalents (FTEs) in July 2021 than in June 2021:
July's total number of FTEs (402,561) was up 8,263 from June
(394,298) and down 54,699, a 12.0% drop from the onset of the
pandemic in March 2020 (457,260) and a 10.5% drop from the most
recent pre-pandemic corresponding month, July 2019.
July 2021 was the lowest FTE total for the month of July since
2015 (396,503).
The largest increase in passenger airlines employees came from
Delta Airlines adding 6,413 FTEs. In July 2021, scheduled passenger
airlines employed 56% of the total airline industry FTEs, which
includes cargo and charter carriers. In pre-pandemic March 2020,
scheduled passenger airlines employed 63% of the total airline
industry.
Regulations require U.S. airlines to report employment numbers
for employees who worked or received pay for any part of the pay
period(s) ending nearest the 15th day of the month. U.S. airline
employment reports are filed monthly with the Bureau of
Transportation Statistics. See the tables that accompany this
release on the BTS website for detailed data since 2015 (Tables
1-15) and industry summary monthly data since 1990.
July 2021 Airline Employment Line Graph
All 23 scheduled service passenger airlines (mid-July)
402,561 FTEs
Down 2.5% (10,495 FTEs) from July 2020 (413,056 FTEs)
Down 10.5% (47,243 FTEs) from July 2019 (449,804 FTEs)
Up 2.1% (8,263) from June 2021 (394,298 FTEs)
Four network airlines (mid-July)
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska
Airlines
246,418 FTEs, 61.2% of total scheduled passenger airline
FTEs
Down 2.4% (6,118 FTEs) from July 2020 (252,536 FTEs)
Down 14.7% (42,520 FTEs) from July 2019 (288,938 FTEs)
Up 3.3% (7,963 FTEs) from June 2021 (238,455) FTEs
Network airlines operate a significant portion of their flights
using at least one hub where connections are made for flights to
down-line destinations or spoke cities. Note that, beginning with
January 2018 data, Virgin America's numbers are included with
Alaska Airlines in the network category.
Five low-cost airlines (mid-July)
Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines, Frontier
Airlines, Allegiant Air
89,756 FTEs, 22.3% of total scheduled passenger airline FTEs
Down 8.5% (8,286 FTEs) from July 2020 (98,042 FTEs)
Down 6.3% (6,020 FTEs) from July 2019 (95,776 FTEs)
Down 0.1% (103 FTEs) from June 2021 (89,859) FTEs
Low-cost airlines operate under a low-cost business model, with
infrastructure and aircraft operating costs below the overall
industry average.
Ten regional airlines (mid-July)
SkyWest Airlines, Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines, Republic
Airlines, Endeavor Air, PSA Airlines, Horizon Air, Mesa Airlines,
Air Wisconsin Airlines, GoJet Airlines
58,280 FTEs, 14.5% of total scheduled passenger airline FTEs
Up 9.2% (4,913 FTEs) from July 2020 (53,367 FTEs)
Up 2.42% (1,359 FTEs) from July 2019 (56,921 FTEs)
Up 0.5% (310 FTEs) from June 2021 (57,970 FTEs)
Regional carriers typically provide service from small cities,
using primarily regional jets to support the network carriers' hub
and spoke systems.
Top Employers by Group
Network: American 93,642 FTEs
Low-Cost: Southwest 54,005 FTEs
Regional: SkyWest 14,126 FTEs
Four other airlines included in industry totals
Other carriers generally operate within specific niche markets.
They are Hawaiian Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, Silver Airlines
and Eastern Airlines.
Reporting Notes
Airlines that operate at least one aircraft that has more than
60 seats or the capacity to carry a payload of passengers, cargo
and fuel weighing more than 18,000 pounds must report monthly
employment statistics.
Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by
commercial air carriers as of Sept 14. Additional airline
employment data and previous releases can be found on the BTS
website. BTS has scheduled release of August 2021 passenger airline
employment data for October 18.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 20, 2021 11:53 ET (15:53 GMT)
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