U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 549,931 workers in May 2025, or 55% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines gained 2,507 employees in May 2025. Spirit Air Lines led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 940 employees; American Airlines Inc. added 642, and United Air Lines Inc. added 621.
U.S. cargo airlines employed 458,339 workers in May 2025, or 45% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers lost 2,629 employees in May. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, decreased employment by 2,630 jobs. See FedEx note for discontinuity in May 2024.
Scheduled passenger airlines gained 2,472 full-time equivalents in May 2025
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 2025 industry-wide numbers include 751,619 full-time and 260,187 part-time workers for a total of 881,713 FTEs, an increase from April of 449 FTEs (0.05%).
The 25 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for May 2025 employed 520,841 FTEs, 2,472 FTEs (0.48%) more than in April 2025. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.
U.S. cargo airlines employed 357,384 FTEs in May 2025, down 1,307 FTEs (0.36%) from April 2025.
Tags:US DOT
