US Airlines Post Biggest Headcount Decline Since 2003

[WingNaPrayer]

U.S. passenger airlines employed 6.9% fewer workers in January than they did a year earlier, the seventh-consecutive decline and biggest fall since December 2003, according to the Department of Transportation.

That string of cutbacks put January's total at 390,000 workers, the lowest since 1993, the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said. The calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

Airlines are slashing capacity as consumers cutting back their spending take fewer trips. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) said earlier this month it would cut international capacity another 10%, likely the opening salvo of future similar announcements from other carriers.

The bureau said all the legacy airlines' employment numbers fell, as did low- cost carriers including AirTran Holdings Inc.'s (AAI) AirTran Airways and regional carriers including AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Eagle Airlines.

The employment cuts come as airlines are slashing capacity as consumers cutting back their spending take fewer trips. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) said earlier this month it would cut international capacity another 10% amid the worsening economy, likely the opening salvo of future similar announcements from other carriers.

The seven network carriers' employment decreased 6.3%, its fifth straight decrease after 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth. The category includes Delta and its recent merger partner Northwest Airlines, UAL Corp.'s ( UAUA) United Airlines, AMR's American Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and Alaska Air Group Inc.'s (ALK) Alaska Airlines.

FULL STORY LINK

 

[WingNaPrayer]

One must wonder . . . do the airlines have enough employees to fly passengers safely from point A to point B anymore? Less people paying attention to an operation always makes me feel much safer at 42,000 feet!

 

[jimntx]

Surely, they are only counting major airlines, and only those employees directly involved in the transportation end. If you count AMR employment and include the "office" people like Centreport, just AMR has something like 60,000 or 70,000 employees (IIRC. It may be lower than that now.) Of course, when I started with AA in 2000, AMR had over 100,000 employees.

 

[Barfbag]

Not an accurate report as it fails to mention how many employess are hired as contractors for ground and reservations positions.

These contract employees are not included as airlines workers for this kinds of report.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Surely, they are only counting major airlines

Only sorta. As the DOT says, "Airlines that operate at least one aircraft with the capacity to carry combined passengers, cargo and fuel of 18,000 pounds – the payload factor – must report monthly employment statistics. That means all the "brand name" carriers as well as a lot of others. The monthly DOT press release lists only the "brand name" carriers and the larger express carriers, however.

and only those employees directly involved in the transportation end. If you count AMR employment and include the "office" people like Centreport, just AMR has something like 60,000 or 70,000 employees (IIRC. It may be lower than that now.)

They include all employees - showing AA as having 69,900 full time equivalent employees in January. Eagle reported 9,200 FTE employees.

Jim

 

[AA767JET]

One must wonder . . . do the airlines have enough employees to fly passengers safely from point A to point B anymore? Less people paying attention to an operation always makes me feel much safer at 42,000 feet!

Airlines should leave Aircraft Maintenance Technician's, pilot's and flight attendants alone since they are the core of the airline when it relates to safety, experience is built for each of these title groups every day there on the job, laying off these people is not the answer to the airlines financial problems....

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

DOING MORE WITH LESS

:down:

 

[jimntx]

They include all employees - showing AA as having 69,900 full time equivalent employees in January. Eagle reported 9,200 FTE employees.

Jim

That's why the 390,000 number seems low to me. If AMR (which we all know is no longer the world's largest airline ) has 20% of that total, let's assume that DAL/NWA has at least an equal number of employees. That doesn't leave much room for UAUA, LCC, or any of the other airlines. Are some of you sharing employees? :unsure:

 

[eolesen]

No, the number does seem on target, Jim.

AA doesn't outsource their call centers, maintenance, cargo, or the majority of their ground handling operation. They also have the most restrictive scope clause, so they don't send nearly as much of their flying to other companies like Mesa, Republic, ExpressJet, Skywest, etc...

Airlines should leave Aircraft Maintenance Technician's, pilot's and flight attendants alone since they are the core of the airline when it relates to safety, experience is built for each of these title groups every day there on the job, laying off these people is not the answer to the airlines financial problems

I don't think you'll see any airline cutting back on those areas just to fix financial problems. Layoffs in those areas are almost without fail directly tied to the size of the operation. As flights are scaled back, so is staffing in those areas.

Where they cut back arbitrarily are places like call centers, back office functions, sales staff, Central Baggage Service, Medical, Admirals Club, etc. Perhaps those areas are not as critical where flight safety is concerned, but they're still important to running a proper business....

 

[Bob Owens]

Of the reduction how much was through normal attrition and how much was through layoffs?

 

[BoeingBoy]

The BTS doesn't break it down, but just give the total number of full time employee equivalents for each month. So how many layoff vs attrition is something the company would have.

Jim