BTS 37-05
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Contact: Dave Smallen
Tel.: (202) 366-5568

BTS Releases June Passenger Airline Employment Data;
June 2005 Employment Down 3.4 Percent from June 2004

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed a total of 452,666 workers in June 2005, 3.4 percent fewer than in June 2004, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today (Table 1).

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the seven network carriers employed 303,579 total full-time and part-time workers –6.7 percent fewer workers in June 2005 than a year earlier (Table 2). The low-cost carriers reported 74,659 total employees, 0.8 percent fewer than June 2004 (Table 3); and the regional carriers reported 60,850 total employees, 9.9 percent more than the previous year (Table 4).

June was the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year declines in airline employment levels for the scheduled passenger carriers since BTS began tracking the numbers. But part-time employee numbers continued to grow with a 0.5 percent increase in June.

Many regional carriers were not required to report employment numbers before 2003, so year-to-year comparisons involving regional carriers as a group, or the full industry, are not appropriate for earlier years. BTS is providing pre-2003 comparisons for network and low-cost carriers, as well as pre-2003 numbers for individual regional carriers that were required to report in earlier years.

Airlines that operate at least one aircraft with the capacity to carry combined passengers, cargo and fuel of 18,000 pounds – the payload factor – must report monthly employment statistics.

The 2004 statistics do not include employment data for one regional airline that was not required to report for that year – PSA Airlines.

Numbers for Independence Air, which changed its business model from a regional to low-cost carrier in mid-2004, have been included with low-cost carriers for 2003, 2004 and 2005. This change reflects the carrier’s current business model as a low-cost operator.

Using Full-Time Equivalent Employees (FTE) calculations, employment at network carriers in June dropped 34.6 percent from 2001 to 2005. The biggest declines were at US Airways, down 50.3 percent; and United Airlines, down 43.6 percent (Table 5). In FTE calculations, part-time workers are counted as one-half of a full-time employee.

The seven low-cost carriers that were required to report employment data in 2001 and 2005 employed 11.5 percent more FTEs in June 2005 than in June 2001 (Table 6).

The eight regional carriers that were required to report employment data in 2001 and 2005 employed 14.1 percent more FTEs in June 2005 than in June 2001. Of that group, only Horizon Air reported fewer FTE employees in June 2005 than June 2001 (Table 7).

In this release, Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4 use total numbers for full-time and part-time employees, while employee numbers in Tables 5, 6, 7 and 8 show FTEs.

The 3.4 percent drop in FTEs from June 2004 to June 2005 equaled the May 2005 results as the largest year-to-year drop in scheduled passenger airline employment in the seven months that these numbers have been compiled for these airline groups (Table 8). The year-over-year employment numbers have fallen each consecutive month since BTS began publishing these data effective with December 2004 results.

Network carriers 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. Low-cost carriers are those that the industry generally recognizes as operating under a low-cost business model with fewer infrastructure costs.

Regional carriers provide service from small cities, using primarily regional jets to support the network carriers’ hub and spoke systems.

The Other Carrier category generally reflects those airlines that operate within specific niche markets such as Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines in serving the Hawaiian Islands.

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of Aug. 10.

Additional airline employment data can be found on the BTS website at
http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/number_of_employees/. BTS has scheduled release of July airline employment data for Sept. 20.
 

Table 7: Regional Carrier FTE Employees, June 2000-2004*

(Ranked by June 2005 FTE Employees)

 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Note: Many regional carriers were not required to report employment numbers before 2003 so year-to-year comparisons involving regional carriers as a group, or the full industry, are not appropriate for earlier years. 

* Full-time Equivalent Employee (FTE) calculations count part-time workers as one-half of a full-time employee.

** Total numbers for carriers operating in 2005.  

N/A: Carriers did not meet the standard for filing.
 

Table 8: Change in FTE Employees from the Previous Year*

Percentage change compared to same month the previous year

 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

* Full-time Equivalent Employee (FTE) calculations count part-time workers as one-half of a full-time employee.

**Employment numbers in 2003, 2004 and 2005 for Independence Air, which changed its business model from a regional to low-cost carrier in mid-2004, are included with low-cost carriers.

***2005 Regional data include results from one newly reporting airline that was not required to report employment data in 2004: PSA Airlines. The regional airline category, including only those airlines that reported employment data in both June 2004 and 2005, recorded a 6.7 percent growth rate.

**** Includes network, low-cost, regional and other carriers.