U.S. airline industry (passenger and cargo airlines combined) employment decreased to 1,004,718 workers in February 2025, 4,423 (0.44%) less workers than in January 2025 (1,009,141).
U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 544,156 workers in February 2025, or 54% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines gained 269 employees in February 2025.
United Air Lines led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 433 employees; Delta Air Lines added 314, and American Airlines added 124.
U.S. cargo airlines employed 456,352 workers in February 2025, or 46% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers lost 4,677 employees in February. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, decreased employment by 4,730 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 February 2025 industry-wide numbers include 747,930 full-time and 256,788 part-time workers for a total of 876,324 FTEs, a decrease from January of 2,274 FTEs (0.26%).
The 26 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for February 2025 employed 515,221 FTEs, 247 FTEs (0.05%) more than in January 2025. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.
U.S. cargo airlines employed 356,976 FTEs in February 2025, down 2,510 FTEs (0.70%) from January 2025.
Reporting Notes
Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of April 11, 2024. Additional airline employment data and previous releases can be found on the BTS website. The month-to-month numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
Passenger, cargo, and charter airlines that operate at least one aircraft that has more than 60 seats or the capacity to carry a payload of passengers, cargo, and fuel weighing more than 18,000 pounds must report monthly employment statistics. Regulations require U.S. airlines to report employment numbers for employees who worked or received pay for any part of the pay period(s) ending nearest the 15th day of the month.
See the tables that accompany this release on the BTS website for detailed data (Tables 1-15) and industry summary monthly data since 1990. Additional individual airline numbers are available on the BTS airline employment web page. The web page provides full-time and part-time employment numbers by carrier by month from 1990 through January 2025.
