BTS: Ranks Down 5.7 Percent Over Last Year

US scheduled passenger airlines employed 5.7 percent fewer workers in October 2008 than in October 2007, the fourth consecutive decrease in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year and the largest year-to-year decrease since July 2006, the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported Tuesday.

The October FTE total of 394,300 for the scheduled passenger carriers was the lowest total since 1993. FTE calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

All the network airlines except for Alaska Airlines decreased employment from October 2007 to October 2008, as did low-cost carriers AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines. Regional carriers American Eagle Airlines, SkyWest Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines, Comair, Horizon Air, Mesa Airlines, Executive Airlines, Shuttle America and PSA Airlines also reported reduced employment levels compared to last year. 

Scheduled passenger airlines include network, low-cost, regional and other airlines. Many regional carriers were not required to report employment numbers before 2003, so year-to-year comparisons involving regional carriers, or the total industry, are not available for the years before 2003.

The seven network carriers employed 266,608 FTEs in October, 67.6 percent of the passenger airline total, while low-cost carriers employed 15.6 percent and regional carriers also employed 14.7 percent.

American Airlines employed the most FTEs in October among the network carriers, Southwest Airlines employed the most among low-cost carriers, and American Eagle employed the most among regional carriers. Seven of the top 10 employers in the industry are network carriers.

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