Economics, employment, and finance
Legacy ID
1546
April 2020 U.S. Passenger Airline Employment Data
The 23 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 6.7% fewer full-time equivalents (FTEs) in mid-April 2020 than in mid-March 2020:
- Mid-April’s total number of FTEs (428,569) was down almost 31,000 workers from mid-March 2020 (459,250 FTEs) and was the lowest FTE total for any month since August 2017 (423,747 FTEs).
- Mid-April 2020 FTEs were down 4.0% or almost 18,000 FTEs from April 2019 (446,323 FTEs).
- April was the first month that U.S. scheduled passenger airline FTEs were lower than the same month of the previous year since April 2013.
First Quarter 2020 U.S. Airline Financial Data
U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a first-quarter 2020 after-tax net loss of $5.2 billion and a pre-tax operating loss of $4.6 billion.
The first-quarter losses follow 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 first-quarter 2020 (Tables 1-6) financial results.
Figure 2. Domestic U.S. Scheduled Service Passenger Airlines Quarterly After Tax Net Profit, 1Q 2020
Mid-April Airline Employment Down 37,000 from Mid-March
US airlines employed 715,017 workers in the middle of April 2020, almost 37,000 fewer than in mid-March 2020 and almost 21,000 fewer than in April 2019. The April 2020 numbers consist of 604,551 full-time and 110,466 part-time workers.
Regulations require airlines to report employment numbers to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 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. Airlines April 2020 Fuel Use Down 70% in One Year
The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released U.S. airlines’ April Fuel Cost and Consumption numbers.