Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 6.3 percent fewer workers in December 2005 than in December 2004, the 12th consecutive month that full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers declined compared to the same month of the previous year, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today (Table 1).
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the December 2004 to December 2005 decline in FTE’s was the second largest year-to-year decrease in 2005. It was also the fifth consecutive month with a decline in FTE’s of more than 5 percent from the same month of the previous year
In FTE calculations, a part-time employee is counted as one-half a full-time employee.
Scheduled passenger airline FTE’s declined every month in 2005 from the same month in 2004. The last increase in FTE’s from the previous year was a rise of 0.9 percent in December 2004, the last of seven consecutive months of increases from previous year (Table 2). Scheduled passenger airlines include network, low-cost, regional and other airlines. These airlines employed 407,000 FTE’s in December 2005, the lowest total since at least the beginning of 2003 (Table 3).
The seven network carriers employed 271,000 FTE’s in December, 67 percent of the passenger airline total (Table 4). Low-cost carriers employed 17 percent and regional carriers employed 14 percent. The network carriers are the only carrier group to reduce FTE’s each December from the previous year since 2001 (Table 5).
American Airlines employs the most FTE’s among the network carriers, Southwest Airlines employs most among low-cost carriers and American Eagle Airlines employs the most among regional carriers. Seven of the top 10 employers in the industry are network carriers (Table 6).
BTS
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the December 2004 to December 2005 decline in FTE’s was the second largest year-to-year decrease in 2005. It was also the fifth consecutive month with a decline in FTE’s of more than 5 percent from the same month of the previous year
In FTE calculations, a part-time employee is counted as one-half a full-time employee.
Scheduled passenger airline FTE’s declined every month in 2005 from the same month in 2004. The last increase in FTE’s from the previous year was a rise of 0.9 percent in December 2004, the last of seven consecutive months of increases from previous year (Table 2). Scheduled passenger airlines include network, low-cost, regional and other airlines. These airlines employed 407,000 FTE’s in December 2005, the lowest total since at least the beginning of 2003 (Table 3).
The seven network carriers employed 271,000 FTE’s in December, 67 percent of the passenger airline total (Table 4). Low-cost carriers employed 17 percent and regional carriers employed 14 percent. The network carriers are the only carrier group to reduce FTE’s each December from the previous year since 2001 (Table 5).
American Airlines employs the most FTE’s among the network carriers, Southwest Airlines employs most among low-cost carriers and American Eagle Airlines employs the most among regional carriers. Seven of the top 10 employers in the industry are network carriers (Table 6).
BTS
