U.S. cargo and passenger airlines added 2,058 jobs in July 2023; employment remains 8.2% above pre-pandemic July 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 July 2023 industry-wide numbers include 692,449 full-time and 111,444 part-time workers for a total of 748,171 FTEs, an increase from June of 1,900 FTEs (0.25%). July 2023’s total number of FTEs remains just 9.47% above pre-pandemic July 2019’s 683,459 FTEs.

The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for July 2023 employed 501,495 FTEs, 2,987 FTEs (0.60%) more than in June 2023. July 2023’s total number of scheduled passenger airline FTEs is 51,691 FTEs (11.49%) above pre-pandemic July 2019. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 242,010 FTEs in July 2023, down 988 FTEs (0.41%) from June 2023. U.S. cargo airlines have increased FTEs by 12,582 (5.48%) since pre-pandemic July 2019.