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Economics, employment, and finance

Legacy ID
1546
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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)

Mid-May 2020 U.S. Passenger Airline Employment Down 18,000 FTEs from Mid-April

The 23 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 4.1% fewer full-time equivalents (FTEs) in mid-May 2020 than in mid-April 2020:

  • Mid-May’s total number of FTEs (411,651) was down almost 18,000 FTEs from mid-April 2020 (429,407 FTEs) and down more than 48,000 FTEs from mid-March 2020.  It was the lowest FTE total for any month since May 2016 (410,338 FTEs).
  • Mid-May 2020 FTEs were down more than 36,000 FTEs, down 8.1%, from May 2019 (447,981 FTEs).  

 

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. U.S. airline employment reports are filed monthly with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for detailed data since 2015 (Tables 1-15) and industry summary data since 1990.

 

Mid-May Airline Employment Down 20,000 from Mid-April

U.S. airlines employed 696,534 workers in the middle of May 2020, 20,100 fewer than in mid-April 2020 and 42,282 fewer than in May 2019. The May 2020 numbers consist of 588,802 full-time and 107,732 part-time workers

U.S. Airlines May 2020 Fuel Use Up 1.4% from April

 

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

 

Fuel consumed by U.S. airlines’ scheduled services:

 

May 2019                    1.6 billion gallons

April 2020                     447 million gallons

May 2020                      453 million gallons

Form 41 Financial DB10 Data

Click Year/Quarter to download DB10 Product (.zip format)

NOTE: If you are interested in any aviation data not listed below or if you have any questions, please submit them using our Ask a Librarian web form. 2025

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