Employees at U.S. Scheduled Passenger Airlines Month of January, 1990-2020

January 2020 U.S. Passenger Airline Employment Data

The 21 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 2.5% more workers in January 2020 than in January 2019:

• January’s 452,933 full-time equivalents (FTEs) was down from the previous month’s employment total in December 2019 (453,976 FTEs) but was the highest FTE total for the month of January since 2003 (466,881 FTEs).  
• January was the 75th consecutive month that U.S. scheduled passenger airline FTEs exceeded the same month of the previous year.

Air Traffic December 2019 Reported

Table B. Unadjusted Reported Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods, December 2019

Table A. Seasonally Adjusted Reported Passenger Enplanements Compared to Previous Time Periods, December 2019

Figure 2. January-December Passengers on U.S. Airlines - 2003-2019

Figure 1. Monthly Passengers on U.S. Scheduled Airlines (Domestic + International), Seasonally Adjusted Dec 2016 - Dec 2019

December 2019 U.S. Airline Traffic Data

U.S. airlines carried 79.0 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in December 2019, reaching a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.9% from November.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) is withholding the scheduled release of estimated U.S. airlines’ traffic data for January and February because the estimates are statistical forecasts based on previous trends. The estimates do not account for the impact of the coronavirus.

Freight Transportation Services Index, January 2015 - January 2020

Table 5: Freight Transportation Services Index from Previous Years, January 2020