Figure 2. Domestic U.S. Scheduled Service Passenger Airlines Quarterly After Tax Net Profit, 2Q 2020

Figure 1. Systemwide U.S. Scheduled Service Passenger Airlines Quarterly After Tax Net Profit, 2Q 2020

U.S. Airlines Report Second Quarter 2020 Losses

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a second-quarter 2020 after-tax net loss of $11.0 billion and a pre-tax operating loss of $16.2 billion.

These second-quarter losses are the second consecutive quarterly losses following 27 consecutive quarterly after-tax net profits and 35 consecutive quarterly pre-tax operating profits.

U.S. airline financial reports are filed quarterly with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for additional second-quarter 2020 (Tables 1-6) financial results.

Mid-July Airline Employment Up 7,000 from Mid-June

U.S. airlines employed 706,824 workers in the middle of July 2020, 7,101 more than in mid-June 2020 and 46,461 fewer than in March 2020. The July 2020 numbers consist of 597,982 full-time and 108,842 part-time workers.

U.S. Airlines July 2020 Fuel Use Up 37% from June

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ July Fuel Cost and Consumption numbers.

Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines scheduled service: July 2019  1.7 billion gallons,  June 2020  558 million gallons,  July 2020   763 million gallons

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

Mid-June 2020 U.S. Passenger Airline Employment Down Over 1,000 FTEs from Mid-May

The 23 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 0.3% fewer full-time equivalents (FTEs) in mid-June 2020 than in mid-May 2020:

• Mid-June’s total number of FTEs (410,594) was down over 1,000 FTEs from mid-May 2020 (411,817 FTEs) and down more than 49,000 FTEs from mid-March 2020. It was the lowest FTE total for any month since May 2016 (410,338 FTEs).
• Mid-June 2020 FTEs were down more than 39,000 FTEs (-8.7%) from June 2019 (449,775 FTEs).  

Mid-June Airline Employment Up 2,000 from Mid-May

U.S. airlines employed 699,683 workers in the middle of June 2020, 2,446 more than in mid-May 2020 and 53,602 fewer than in March 2020. The June 2020 numbers consist of 508,688 full-time and 111,075 part-time workers.

First Quarter 2020 Air Fare Drops to New Low

U.S. domestic average air fares declined in the first quarter of 2020 to $336, the lowest inflation-adjusted quarterly air fare on record in Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) records dating back to 1995. The previous low was $347 in the third quarter of 2019.

Adjusted for inflation, (constant 2020 dollars) the first-quarter 2020 air fare was:

• Down 6.0% from 1Q 2019 ($358)
• Down 6.1% from 4Q 2019 ($358)
• Down 21.6% from 1Q 2015 ($429)

Figure 2. Fares by Airport Group based on Number of Originating Domestic Passengers 1Q 2020