They're Flying Less... But Hiring More?

It is, as they say, a puzzlement: US airlines are flying less -- cutting capacity to compensate for higher fuel prices, and a slumping economy -- but most are employing more workers than ever. US scheduled passenger airlines employed 1.6 percent more workers in March 2008 than in March 2007, the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported Tuesday.

That marks the 14th consecutive increase in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year.

The seven network carriers except for American Airlines all added FTEs from March 2007 to March 2008. All of the low-cost carriers, and regional carriers American Eagle Airlines, SkyWest Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines, Horizon Air, Pinnacle Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, Executive Airlines, Trans States Airlines, Shuttle America and GoJet Airlines increased their FTEs compared to last year. The BTS counts two part-time employees as one full-time worker.

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 283,917 FTEs in March, 68.5 percent of the passenger airline total, while low-cost carriers employed 14.7 percent and regional carriers employed 14.5 percent.

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

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

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