December Passenger Airline Employment Data: Employment Up 1.0 Percent from December 2003

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Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 434,236 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) workers in December 2004, 1.0 percent more than in December 2003, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today (Table 1).

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the seven network carriers employed 295,652 FTE workers, 3.4 percent fewer workers in December 2004 than a year earlier (Table 2). The low-cost carriers reported 71,640 FTE employees, 6.6 percent more than December 2003 (Table 3), and the regional carriers reported 57,020 employees, 18.7 percent more than the previous year (Table 4). The 2004 numbers for regional carriers included more carriers than 2003, because several airlines that previously were not required to report later met the Department of Transportation's reporting standards for submitting airline employment statistics.

Airline employment numbers have been reported by carriers meeting the reporting standard since at least 1970. This new monthly series of press releases including carrier groupings is designed to reflect the existing structure of the airline industry and to provide numbers to measure the growing prominence of low-cost and regional air carriers. Many regional carriers were not required to report employment numbers before 2003 so year-to-year comparisons involving regional carriers as a group, or the full industry, are not appropriate for earlier years. BTS is providing pre-2003 comparisons for network and low-cost carriers, as well as pre-2003 numbers for individual regional carriers that were required to report in earlier years.

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 2003 statistics do not include employment data for three regional airlines — Mesa, Pinnacle, and PSA Airlines — that were not required to report. Collectively, these three airlines reported a total of 8,129 employees in December 2004. Part-time workers are counted as one-half of a full-time employee in determining total FTEs.

Including only those airlines that reported employment data in both December 2003 and 2004, the regional airline category recorded an 11.2 percent growth rate. Numbers 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 both 2004 and 2003 in Table 6 to reflect that carrier's current business model as a low-cost operator.

The number of employees at network carriers in December dropped 31.6 percent from 2000 to 2004. The biggest declines were at US Airways, down 43.6 percent, and United Airlines, down 40.2 percent (Table 5).

The seven low-cost carriers that were required to report employment data in 2000 and 2004 employed 16.8 percent more workers in 2004 than in 2000. JetBlue Airways, a start-up carrier in 2000, has increased its workforce by nearly 600 percent since 2000 (Table 6).

Of the nine regional carriers who reported employment numbers to BTS in 2000, their December 2004 employee headcount increased 16.4 percent. Of that group, only Horizon Air and Continental Micronesia reported fewer employees in December 2004 than December 2000 (Table 7).

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. Low-cost carriers are those that the industry generally recognizes as operating under a low-cost business model with fewer infrastructure costs. Regional carriers provide service from small cities, using primarily regional jets to support the network carriers' hub and spoke systems. 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. Additional airline employment data can be found on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/employees/. BTS will release January airline employment data later in March.

Table 1: Passenger Airline Employment, December 2003-2004 (number of current carriers in parentheses)

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

*Independence Air (formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines) data have been included in 2003 totals for Regional Carriers, but reflecting the current change in its business model, the 2004 data have been included with Low Cost carrier results.

**2004 Regional data include results from three newly reporting airlines that were not required to report employment data in 2003: Mesa Airlines, PSA Airlines, and Pinnacle Airlines.

***Other Carriers: Allegiant, Aloha, Casino Express, Hawaiian, Midwest, USA3000

Table 2: Number of Employees: Network Carriers December 2000-2004 (number of current carriers in parentheses)

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Table 3: Number of Employees: Low-cost Carriers, December 2000-2004 (number of current carriers in parentheses)

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

NOTE: Independence Air (formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines) data have been included in 2003 totals for Regional Carriers, but reflecting the current change in its business model, the 2004 data have been included with Low Cost carrier results.

Table 4: Number of Employees: Regional Carriers, December 2003-2004 (number of current carriers in parentheses)

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

NOTE: Regional group numbers for years before 2003 are not included because of the limited number of regional carriers that met the requirement for filing reports. Independence Air (formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines) data have been included in 2003 totals for Regional Carriers, but reflecting the current change in its business model, the 2004 data have been included with Low Cost carrier results.

Table 5: Network Carrier Employees, December 2000-2004

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

*American Airlines' 2001 employment statistics include TWA employees that were absorbed by AA after its purchase of TWA assets in April 2001.

Table 6: Low-cost Carrier Employees, December 2000-2004

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

NOTE: Independence Air (formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines) data have been included in 2003 totals for Regional Carriers, but reflecting the current change in its business model, the 2004 data have been included with Low Cost carrier results.

Table 7: Regional Carrier Employees, December 2000-2004

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Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

NOTE: N/A means the numbers were not included because the carrier did not meet the requirement for filing reports. Independence Air (formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines) data have been included in 2003 totals for Regional Carriers, but reflecting the current change in its business model, the 2004 data have been included with Low Cost carrier results.