U.S. cargo and passenger airlines add 4,752 jobs in April 2022 for new Covid pandemic high

Scheduled passenger airlines add 5,137 full-time equivalents for 12th consecutive month of job growth

U.S. Airline Employees Headcount (Full-time and Part-time Employees)

U.S. airline industry (passenger and cargo airlines combined) employment increased to 751,165 workers in April 2022, 4,752 (0.64%) more workers than in March 2022 (746,413) and 16,178 (2.20%) more than in pre-pandemic April 2019 (734,987).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 470,317 workers in April or 63% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines added 5,448 employees in April for a twelfth consecutive month of job growth dating back to May 2021. Southwest led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 1,457 employees; Delta Airlines added 1,380 employees, and United Airlines added 1,404. U.S. cargo airlines employed 277,575 workers in April, 37% of the industry total. Cargo carriers added 330 employees in April. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, increased employment by 478 jobs.

U.S. Airline Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs)

BTS calculates FTEs by dividing the number of part-time employees by 2 and adding that figure to the number of full-time employees. The April industry-wide numbers include 642,877 full-time and 108,288 part-time workers for a total of 697,021 FTEs, an increase from March of 4,889 FTEs (0.71%). April’s total number of FTEs remains just 3.08% above pre-pandemic April 2019’s 676,210 FTEs.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 248,183 FTEs in April, up 670 FTEs (0.27%) from March. U.S. cargo airlines have increased FTEs by 22,226 (9.84%) since pre-pandemic April 2019.

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for April 2022 employed 445,582 FTEs, 5,137 FTEs (1.17%) more than in March 2022. April’s total number of scheduled passenger airline FTEs remains 1,050 FTEs (0.23%) below pre-pandemic April 2019. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.