U.S. Cargo and Passenger Airlines Gained 14,163 Jobs in November 2024

Thursday, January 16, 2025

BTS 04-25

Note: In June, FedEx Ground and FedEx Services merged with FedEx Express to form Federal Express Corporation. As a result of the merger, carrier FX has experienced a significant increase in employee count, increasing the total number of employees in the industry.

May 2024 Federal Express numbers are 233,739, while Federal Express Corporation June numbers are 432,127.

U.S. Airline Industry November 2024 Total Number of Employees Infographic

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 1,035,476 workers in November 2024, 14,163 (1.39%) more workers than in October 2024 (1,021,313).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 543,877 workers in November 2024, or 53% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines lost 828 employees in November 2024. United Air Lines Inc. led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 248 employees; Republic Airline added 125, and Allegiant Air added 109.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 487,667 workers in November 2024, or 47% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers gained 15,288 employees in November. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, increased employment by 15,185 jobs.

Line chart depicting Total U.S. Airline Industry Employment from November 2022 to November 2024

Scheduled passenger airlines lost 1,183 full-time equivalents in November 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 November 2024 industry-wide numbers include 753,954 full-time and 281,522 part-time workers for a total of 894,715 FTEs, an increase from October of 7,962 FTEs (0.90%).

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for November 2024 employed 515,013 FTEs, 1,183 FTEs (0.23%) less than in October 2024. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 375,844 FTEs in November 2024, up 9,411 FTEs (2.57%) from October 2024.

Line chart depicting Employees at U.S. Schedules Passenger Airlines in Month of November 1990-2024

Reporting Notes

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of January 14, 2024. Additional airline employment data and previous releases can be found on the BTS website. The month-to-month numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Passenger, cargo, and charter 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. 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.

See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for detailed data (Tables 1-15) and industry summary monthly data since 1990. Additional individual airline numbers are available on the BTS airline employment web page. The web page provides full-time and part-time employment numbers by carrier by month from 1990 through November 2024.

Missing Carrier: Caribbean Sun Airlines, Inc. d/b/a World Atlantic Airlines (WL)

The next update for U.S. airline employment is scheduled for February 10, 2025.

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