Smallest Year-Over-Year Increase Since March 2007

US scheduled passenger airlines employed 1.0 percent more workers in April 2008 than in April 2007, the 15th consecutive increase in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year... but the smallest year-to-year increase since March 2007, the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported Tuesday.

That could be a sign cutbacks to employee ranks and fleet capacity among nearly all US airlines are starting to take their toll on the BTS numbers. FTE calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

The seven network carriers -- except American Airlines -- added FTEs from April 2007 to April 2008. All of the currently reporting low-cost carriers and regional carriers American Eagle Airlines, SkyWest Airlines, Horizon Air, Pinnacle Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, Executive Airlines, Air Wisconsin Airlines, Shuttle America and GoJet Airlines increased their FTEs compared to last year.

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 283,684 FTEs in April, 68.5 percent of the passenger airline total, while low-cost carriers employed 14.8 percent and regional carriers employed 14.5 percent. American Airlines employed the most FTEs in April among the network carriers, Southwest Airlines employed the most among low-cost carriers, and American Eagle employed the most among regional carriers. Seven of the top 10 employers in the industry are network carriers.

All the network carriers except American Airlines increased FTEs from April 2007 to April 2008. The year-to-year increases were US Airways 67.5 percent, Delta Air Lines 6.3 percent, Alaska Airlines 6.3 percent, Continental Airlines 3.0 percent, Northwest Airlines 1.0 percent and United Airlines 1.6 percent. American’s year-to-year employment decline was 0.2 percent.

All carriers remaining in the low-cost group for April 2008 had FTE increases from April 2007, except for US Airways. Spirit Airlines reported an increase of 14.9 percent. ATA Airlines, which reported 2,407 FTEs in April 2007, stopped operating on April 3 and ceased reporting employment data effective in March.

Regional carrier FTEs were down 0.2 percent in April 2008 compared to April 2007, with Republic and Mesaba reporting the largest increases in the group. Republic employed 60.4 percent more FTEs in April 2008 than April 2007, while Mesaba employed 19.6 percent more.

Regional carrier FTEs rose from 56,574 in April 2005 to 60,027 in April 2008, an increase of 6.1 percent.

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