U.S. Cargo and Passenger Airlines Gained 200,196 Jobs in June 2024

In June, FedEx Ground and FedEx Services merged with FedEx Express to form Federal Express Corporation. As a result of the merger, carrier FX has experienced a significant increase in employee count, increasing the total number of employees in the industry.

May 2024 Federal Express numbers are 233,739, while Federal Express Corporation June numbers are 432,127.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation (Photo: Courtesy Getty Images via Federal Aviation Adminsitraiton website)

U.S. Airline Total Number of Employees (both Full-Time and Part-Time)
U.S. airline industry (passenger and cargo airlines combined) employment increased to 1,002,700 workers in June 2024, 200,196 (24.95%) more workers than in May 2024 (802,504).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 546,446 workers in June 2024 or 55% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines gained 1,828 employees in June 2024. Delta Air Lines Inc. led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 1,217 employees; American Airlines Inc. added 193, and SkyWest Airlines Inc. added 181.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 452,155 workers in June 2024, or 45% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers gained 198,314 employees in June. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, increased employment by 198,388 jobs.

Scheduled passenger airlines gained 1,030 full-time equivalents in June 2024

U.S. Airline Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs)

BTS calculates FTEs by dividing the number of part-time employees by 2 and adding that figure to the number of full-time employees. The June 2024 industry-wide numbers include 751,027 full-time and 251,673 part-time workers for a total of 876,864 FTEs, an increase from May of 131,743 FTEs (17.68%).

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for June 2024 employed 517,526 FTEs, 1,030 FTEs (0.20%) more than in May 2024. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 355,356 FTEs in June 2024, up 130,656 FTEs (58.15%) from May 2024.

Revisions: The data from P-1(a) submissions from January 2024 through May 2024 has been revised and resubmitted for the following carriers: KH, NC, U7.

Reporting Notes

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of August 7, 2024. Additional airline employment data and previous releases can be found on the BTS website. The month-to-month numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Passenger, cargo, and charter airlines that operate at least one aircraft that has more than 60 seats or the capacity to carry a payload of passengers, cargo, and fuel weighing more than 18,000 pounds must report monthly employment statistics. Regulations require U.S. airlines to report employment numbers for employees who worked or received pay for any part of the pay period(s) ending nearest the 15th day of the month.

See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for detailed data (Tables 1-15) and industry summary monthly data since 1990. Additional individual airline numbers are available on the BTS airline employment web page. The web page provides full-time and part-time employment numbers by carrier by month from 1990 through June 2024. The next update for U.S. airline employment is scheduled for Tuesday, September 10, 2024.

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Levi Gwaltney

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