Employment Remains 5.7% Above Pre-Pandemic February 2020

U.S. Airline Total Number of Employees (both Full-Time and Part-Time)

U.S. airline industry (passenger and cargo airlines combined) employment increased to 796,203 workers in February 2024, 760 (0.10%) more workers than in January 2024 (795,554) and 42,821 (5.68%) more than in pre-pandemic February 2020 (753,382).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 537,488 workers in February 2024. Passenger airlines gained 1,261 employees in February 2024. Delta Air Lines led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 911 employees; Frontier Air Lines added 225, and United Air Lines added 218.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 254,227 workers in February 2024. Cargo carriers lost 261 employees in February. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, decreased employment by 427 jobs.

Scheduled passenger airlines gained 964 full-time equivalents in February 2024

U.S. Airline Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs)

BTS calculates FTEs by dividing the number of part-time employees by 2 and adding that figure to the number of full-time employees. The February 2024 industry-wide numbers include 683,984 full-time and 112,219 part-time workers for a total of 740,094 FTEs, an increase from January of 964 FTEs (0.13%). February 2024’s total number of FTEs remains 6.61% above pre-pandemic February 2020’s 694,210 FTEs.

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for February 2024 employed 510,899 FTEs, 1,261 FTEs (0.25%) more than in January 2024. February 2024’s total number of scheduled passenger airline FTEs is 52,670 FTEs (11.50%) above pre-pandemic February 2020. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 224,825 FTEs in February 2024, down 261 FTEs (0.11%) from January 2024. U.S. cargo airlines have decreased FTEs by 6,917 (2.99%) since pre-pandemic February 2020.