U.S. cargo and passenger airlines added 1,948 jobs in May 2023; employment remains 8.2% above pre-pandemic May 2019

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 May 2023 industry-wide numbers include 688,176 full-time and 110,674 part-time workers for a total of 743,513 FTEs, an increase from April of 1,907 FTEs (0.26%). May 2023’s total number of FTEs remains just 9.54% above pre-pandemic May 2019’s 678,748 FTEs.

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for May 2023 employed 495,081 FTEs, 4,128 FTEs (0.84%) more than in April 2023. May 2023’s total number of scheduled passenger airline FTEs is 47,136 FTEs (10.52%) above pre-pandemic May 2019. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 244,601 FTEs in May 2023, down 1,221 FTEs (0.50%) from April 2023. U.S. cargo airlines have increased FTEs by 17,728 (7.81%) since pre-pandemic May 2019.