U.S. passenger airlines employed 384.478 workers in August 2014, up 3,992 and 1 percent above the same month in 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Monday.
As a group, the five largest U.S. carriers — American Airlines and merger partner US Airways, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines — were up marginally at 0.1 percent. A 3.4 percent decline in full-time equivalent employees at United almost wiped out the small gains at the other carriers.
| Airline | 2014 | 2013 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United | 79,263 | 82,082 | -3.4% |
| Delta | 75,734 | 73,873 | 2.5% |
| American | 59,602 | 59,140 | 0.8% |
| Southwest | 45,569 | 45,000 | 1.3% |
| US Airways | 31,530 | 31,180 | 1.1% |
| Total | 291,697 | 291,274 | 0.1% |
If you combine the totals for American and US Airways, they add up to 91,132 FTE (full-time equivalent) employees. If you also add in the numbers from Envoy Air and PSA Airlines, two regional airlines owned by American Airlines Group, the total grows to 103,483.
Here are most U.S. passenger airlines, ranked by size:
| Airline | 2014 | 2013 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United | 79,263 | 82,082 | -3.4% |
| Delta | 75,734 | 73,873 | 2.5% |
| American | 59,602 | 59,140 | 0.8% |
| Southwest | 45,569 | 45,000 | 1.3% |
| US Airways | 31,530 | 31,180 | 1.1% |
| JetBlue | 13,456 | 12,998 | 3.5% |
| Envoy Air | 10,811 | 11,138 | -2.9% |
| Alaska | 9,966 | 9,525 | 4.6% |
| SkyWest | 9,896 | 9,427 | 5.0% |
| ExpressJet | 9,221 | 9,022 | 2.2% |
| Hawaiian | 4,803 | 4,710 | 2.0% |
| Frontier | 3,832 | 3,550 | 7.9% |
| Spirit | 3,774 | 3,374 | 11.8% |
| Endeavor Air | 3,741 | 4,069 | -8.1% |
| Republic | 2,954 | 2,471 | 19.5% |
| Horizon Air | 2,794 | 2,666 | 4.8% |
| Virgin America | 2,508 | 2,417 | 3.8% |
| Air Wisconsin | 2,466 | 2,467 | 0.0% |
| Allegiant Air | 2,248 | 1,947 | 15.5% |
| Mesa | 2,055 | 1,722 | 19.4% |
| Shuttle America | 2,032 | 2,057 | -1.2% |
| PSA | 1,540 | 1,066 | 44.5% |
| Compass | 1,203 | 1,096 | 9.8% |
| Sun Country Airlines | 1,185 | 1,020 | 16.2% |
| GoJet Airlines | 1,101 | 1,063 | 3.6% |
| Chautauqua | 857 | 1,170 | -26.8% |
BTS said August was the ninth straight month in which employment increased over the same month a year earlier.