BTS | February 2006 Passenger Airline Employment Down 5.8 Percent from February 2005

Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) - Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) - United States Department of Transportation (USDOT, US DOT or DOT)

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February 2006 Passenger Airline Employment Down 5.8 Percent from February 2005

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BTS 18-06
Dave Smallen
202-366-5568

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 5.8 percent fewer workers in February 2006 than in February 2005, the 14^thconsecutive month that full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers declined compared to the same month of the previous year, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today (Table 2).

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the February 2005 to February 2006 decline in FTE's was the seventh consecutive month with a decline in FTE's of more than 5 percent from the same month of the previous year. In FTE calculations, a part-time employee is counted as one-half a full-time employee.

The last month FTE's were higher than the previous year was in December 2004, the last of seven consecutive months of increases from the previous year (Table 2). 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. Using the available numbers from network, low-cost, regional and other airlines, the 404,000 FTE's employed in February 2006 were the lowest total since at least the beginning of 2003 (Table 3).

The seven network carriers employed 268,000 FTE's in February, 66.4 percent of the passenger airline total (Table 4). Low-cost carriers employed 16.8 percent and regional carriers employed 13.7 percent. The network carriers are the only carrier group to reduce FTE's each February from the previous year since 2002 (Table 5).

American Airlines employs the most FTE's among the network carriers, Southwest Airlines employs the most among low-cost carriers and American Eagle Airlines employs the most among regional carriers. Seven of the top 10 employers in the industry are network carriers (Table 6).

Network Airlines

Network carrier FTE's have declined every month since 2003 from the same month the previous year. They declined 7.8 percent in February 2006 compared to February 2005 (Table 7). Numbers from previous years were reported in BTS' Feb. 21 press release http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2006/bts009_06/html/bts009_06.html.

Network carrier FTE's dropped from 364,000 in February 2002 to 268,000 in February 2006, a decline of 26.4 percent (Table 8).

FTE's at all seven network carriers declined in February 2006 from February 2002. The biggest percentage declines were at US Airways, down 42.0 percent, a reduction of 14,000 FTE's, and United Airlines, down 31.6 percent, a reduction of 25,000 FTE's. Collectively, the seven network carriers have reduced February FTE headcount in 2006 by 96,000 since 2002 (Table 9).

Network carriers operate a significant portion of their flights using at least one hub where connections are made for flights to down-line destinations or spoke cities.

Data for US Airways and America West Airlines, now in the process of merging operations, are separately reported - US Airways' data are included in the network carriers' category and America West's in the low-cost carriers' category.

Low-Cost Airlines

Low-cost carrier FTE's declined 4.1 percent in February 2006 compared to February 2005, the 11^th consecutive month of decreases from the previous year (Table 10). The 68,000 FTE's employed by the seven low-cost carriers in February account for 16.8 percent of the passenger airline total (Table 11 and table 4).

Low-cost carrier FTE's were 61,000 in February 2002, 71,000 in February 2005 and 68,000 in February 2006. The increase from 2002 to 2006 was 11.9 percent (Table 11). Of the airlines operating and reporting in both February 2006 and February 2002, all reported more FTE's in 2006 except Southwest Airlines, down 1.4 percent, and ATA Airlines, down 55.4 percent (Table 12).

Low-cost carriers are those that the industry generally recognizes as operating under a low-cost business model with fewer infrastructure costs.

Employment data for Independence Air, which changed its business model from a regional to low-cost carrier in mid-2004, have been included with low-cost carriers for 2003, 2004 and 2005 for consistency. The airline discontinued all flights on Jan. 5.

Regional Airlines

Regional carrier FTE's were down 1.2 percent in February compared to February 2005 (Table 13).

Regional carrier FTE's rose from 41,474 in February 2003 to 55,000 in February 2006, an increase of 33.3 percent (Table 14).

The seven regional carriers reporting employment data in both 2002 and 2006 employed 10.5 percent more FTEs in February 2006 than in February 2002. Of that group, Air Wisconsin and Mesaba were the only carriers to report fewer FTE employees in February 2006 than February 2002 (Table 15).

Regional carriers provide service from small cities, using primarily regional jets to support the network carriers' hub and spoke systems.

Reporting Notes

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

The Other Carrier category generally reflects those airlines that operate within specific niche markets, such as Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines in serving the Hawaiian Islands.

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of April 11.

Additional airline employment data can be found on the BTS website at

http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/number_of_employees/. BTS has scheduled release of March airline employment data for May 16.

Table 1: Change in Passenger Airline Full-time Equivalent Employees from the Previous Year*

Percentage change compared to same month the previous year for the most recent 13 months

February 2006 Passenger Airline Employment Down 5.8 Percent from February 2005

Network Airlines

Low-Cost Airlines

Regional Airlines

Reporting Notes

Table 1: Change in Passenger Airline Full-time Equivalent Employees from the Previous Year*

Table 2: Change in Total Passenger Airline* Full-time Equivalent Employees from the Previous Year**

Table 3: Total Passenger Airline* Full-time Equivalent Employees**

Table 4: Total Number of Full-time Equivalent Employees* by Carrier Group, February 2002-2006

Table 5: Change in Full-time Equivalent Employees* by Carrier Group, February 2002-2006

Table 6: Top 10 Airlines, February 2006

Table 7: Change in Network Airline Full-time Equivalent Employees* from the Previous Year

Table 8: Network Carrier Full-time Equivalent Employees by Month*

Table 9: Network Carrier Full-time Equivalent Employees, February 2002-2006*

Table 10: Change in Low-Cost Airline Full-time Equivalent Employees* from the Previous Year

Table 11: Low-Cost Carrier Full-time Equivalent Employees by Month*

Table 12: Low-Cost Carrier Full-time Equivalent Employees, February 2002-2006*

Table 13: Change in Regional Airline Full-time Equivalent Employees from the Previous Year*

Table 14: Regional Carrier Full-time Equivalent Employees by Month*

Table 15: Regional Carrier Full-time Equivalent Employees, February 2002-2006*