U.S. Cargo and Passenger Airlines Lost 21,280 Jobs in December 2024

Monday, February 10, 2025

BTS 07-25

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 December 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 decreased to 1,014,225 workers in December 2024, 21,330 (2.06%) less workers than in November 2024 (1,035,555).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 544,298 workers in December 2024, or 54% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines gained 392 employees in December 2024. Delta Air Lines Inc. led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 778 employees; Spirit Air Lines added 536, and United Air Lines Inc. added 386.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 466,011 workers in December 2024, or 46% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers lost 21,656 employees in December. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, decreased employment by 21,621 jobs.

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

See FedEx note for discontinuity in May 2024.

Scheduled passenger airlines gained 261 full-time equivalents in December 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 December 2024 industry-wide numbers include 749,789 full-time and 264,436 part-time workers for a total of 882,007 FTEs, a decrease from November of 12,787 FTEs (1.43%).

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for December 2024 employed 515,303 FTEs, 261 FTEs (0.05%) more than in November 2024. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 362,848 FTEs in December 2024, down 12,996 FTEs (3.46%) from November 2024.

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

Reporting Notes

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of February 06, 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 Carriers: Kaiser Air, Inc (1EQ), Ameristar Air Cargo (AMQ), Caribbean Sun Airlines, Inc. d/b/a World Atlantic Airlines (WL)

The majority of losses come from Federal Express Corporation (FX), who lost 21,621 employees in December.

The next update for U.S. airline employment is scheduled for March 18, 2025.

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