BTS 45-25

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 decreased to 1,011,806 workers in May 2025, 872 (0.09%) less workers than in April 2025 (1,012,678).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 549,931 workers in May 2025, or 55% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines gained 2,507 employees in May 2025. Spirit Air Lines led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 940 employees; American Airlines Inc. added 642, and United Air Lines Inc. added 621.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 458,339 workers in May 2025, or 45% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers lost 2,629 employees in May. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, decreased employment by 2,630 jobs. See FedEx note for discontinuity in May 2024.

Scheduled passenger airlines gained 2,472 full-time equivalents in May 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 May 2025 industry-wide numbers include 751,619 full-time and 260,187 part-time workers for a total of 881,713 FTEs, an increase from April of 449 FTEs (0.05%).

The 25 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for May 2025 employed 520,841 FTEs, 2,472 FTEs (0.48%) more than in April 2025. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 357,384 FTEs in May 2025, down 1,307 FTEs (0.36%) from April 2025.

Reporting Notes

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of July 10, 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 May 2025.

The next update for U.S. airline employment is scheduled for August 12, 2025.

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