BTS Releases Pocket Guide to Transportation 2020

Thursday, January 9, 2020 – The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has released the Pocket Guide to Transportation 2020 – a quick reference guide to transportation statistics. This popular pocket reference provides the latest transportation statistics at your fingertips in an updated web app, mobile app, and classic annual printed publication. 

Employees at U.S. Scheduled Passenger Airlines Month of October, 1990-2019

October 2019 U.S. Passenger Airline Employment Data

The 21 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 2.6% more workers in October 2019 than in October 2018:

• October’s 452,440 full-time equivalents (FTEs) was the highest employment total since March 2003 (458,598 FTEs).
• October was the 72nd consecutive month that U.S. scheduled passenger airline FTEs exceeded the same month of the previous year.

Social and Economic Characteristics of the United States

KEY:  NA = not applicable; R = revised; U = data are not available.

^a Estimates are as of July 1 for each year. The numbers for each sub-category in each year may not add up to the total population due to rounding.

^b New metropolitan area definitions were published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 2003. These definitions were applied to population data by the Census Bureau beginning with the data from the 2000 Census. A new term, core based statistical areas (CBSAs), collectively refers to metropolitan and micropolitan statistical...

Figure 3. International U.S. Scheduled Service Passenger Airlines Quarterly After Tax Net Profit, 3Q 2019

Figure 2. Domestic U.S. Scheduled Service Passenger Airlines Quarterly After Tax Net Profit, 3Q 2019

Figure 1. Systemwide U.S. Scheduled Service Passenger Airlines Quarterly After Tax Net Profit, 3Q 2019

Third Quarter 2019 U.S. Airline Financial Data

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reported a third-quarter 2019 after-tax net profit of $4.6 billion, the 26th consecutive quarterly after-tax profit, and a pre-tax operating profit of $6.4 billion, the 34th consecutive quarterly pre-tax profit.

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 third-quarter 2019 (Tables 1-6) financial results.

Employees at U.S. Scheduled Passenger Airlines Month of September, 1990-2019

September 2019 U.S. Passenger Airline Employment Data

The 21 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 2.3% more workers in September 2019 than in September 2018:

• September’s 450,517 full-time equivalents (FTEs) was the highest employment total since March 2003 (458,598 FTEs).  
• September was the 71st consecutive month that U.S. scheduled passenger airline FTEs exceeded the same month of the previous year.