BTS 68-25

This release is published on a fixed schedule as required by the Office of Management and Budget, and statistics in this release may be revised when inputs to the statistics are corrected or updated. Data on the program page of this website are the most up-to-date and complete.

Note: In June 2024, FedEx Ground and FedEx Services merged with FedEx Express to form Federal Express Corporation. Consequently, carrier FX experienced a significant increase in employee count, thereby increasing the total number of employees within the industry.

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

U.S. Airlines: Total Number of Employees (both Full-Time and Part-Time)

U.S. airline industry (passenger and cargo airlines combined) employment increased to 1,031,210 workers in September 2025, 8,803 (0.86%) more workers than in August 2025 (1,022,407).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 548,259 workers in September 2025, or 53% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines lost 1,793 employees in September 2025. United Air Lines led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 522 employees; SkyWest Airlines added 278, and Alaska Airlines added 200.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 478,712 workers in September 2025, or 47% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers gained 10,662 employees (2.28%) in September. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, increased employment by 11,417 jobs.

Scheduled passenger airlines lost 1,357 full-time equivalents in September 2025

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 September 2025 industry-wide numbers include 748,623 full-time and 282,587 part-time workers for a total of 889,917 FTEs, an increase from August of 3,917 FTEs (0.44%).

The 25 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for September 2025 employed 519,117 FTEs, 1,357 FTEs (0.26%) fewer than in August 2025 and 4,216 FTEs (0.82%) more than in September 2024. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 366,661 FTEs in September 2025, up 5,344 FTEs (1.48%) from August 2025.

Reporting Notes

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of November 5, 2025. 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 July 2025.

Missing Carrier: Ameristar Air Cargo (AMQ), Scott Aviation, LLC (3EQ), Aloha Air Cargo (KH), and Northern Air Cargo, Inc (NC).

The next update for U.S. airline employment is scheduled for December 9, 2025.

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