January 2009 passenger airline employment down 6.9 percent

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 6.9 percent fewer workers in January 2009 than in January 2008, the seventh consecutive decrease in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year and the largest year-to-year decrease since December 2003, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today.  The January FTE total of 390,000 for the scheduled passenger carriers was the lowest total since 1993. FTE calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.
All the network airlines decreased employment from January 2008 to January 2009 as did low-cost carriers AirTran Airways, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines. Regional carriers American Eagle Airlines, SkyWest Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines, Comair, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Horizon Air, Mesa Airlines, Executive Airlines, Shuttle America Airlines, Republic Airlines and PSA Airlines also reported reduced employment levels compared to last year. 
Scheduled passenger airlines include network, low-cost, regional and other airlines.
The seven network carriers employed 263,900 FTEs in January, 67.7 percent of the passenger airline total, while low-cost carriers employed 16.1 percent and regional carriers employed 14.6 percent.
American Airlines employed the most FTEs in January among the network carriers, Southwest Airlines employed the most among low-cost carriers, and American Eagle employed the most among regional carriers. Seven of the top 10 employers in the industry are network carriers.
America West Airlines and US Airways now operate under a single certificate.  Joint reporting began with October 2007 data.  US Airways’ employment numbers were included with the network airlines prior to October 2007 while America West's numbers were included with the low-cost airlines.  Beginning with October 2007, US Airways’ numbers are combined with America West’s numbers in the network category. 

Network airlines
FTEs at the group of seven network carriers decreased 6.3 percent in January 2009 compared to January 2008, the fifth monthly decrease from the same month of the previous year after 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth.  Prior to an increase in May 2007, the network group had reduced FTEs from the previous year every month since September 2001.
Within the group, all network carriers decreased FTEs from January 2008 to January 2009: United Airlines, 12.8 percent; Delta Air Lines, 6.3 percent; Northwest Airlines, 5.1 percent; American, 4.6 percent; US Airways, 4.4 percent; Continental Airlines, 3.8 percent; and Alaska Airlines, 3.7 percent.
FTEs at four network carriers declined during the four years from January 2005 to January 2009. The biggest percentage decline was at Northwest, down 27.7 percent, a reduction of 10,600 FTEs, followed by Delta at 20.5 percent.  The other FTE decreases during that time were United, down 19.6 percent, and American, down 8.9 percent. The increases were at Continental, 9.1 percent; Alaska, 3.5 percent; and the recently combined US Airways, 29.5 percent.
Network carriers operate a significant portion of their flights using at least one hub where connections are made for flights to down-line destinations or spoke cities.

Low-cost airlines
Low-cost carrier FTEs declined 3.1 percent in January from January 2008, the fourth consecutive monthly decline in the group’s FTEs not influenced by the US Airways-America West post-merger reporting.  Since the America West and US Airways reports were combined in October 2007, low-cost carrier FTEs decreased each month for 12 consecutive months through September compared to the same month of the previous year, but the previous year numbers included America West while the recent data did not.  
Four low-cost carriers reported year-to-year increases: Virgin America, 71.1 percent; Allegiant Airlines, 15.1 percent; Southwest, 3.9 percent and JetBlue Airways, 1.1 percent.  AirTran, Spirit and Frontier reported year-to-year FTE decreases. ATA Airlines, which reported 2,233 FTEs in January 2008, stopped operating on April 3 and ceased reporting employment data effective in April 2008. SkyBus also stopped reporting in April 2008 but employed 431 FTEs in January 2008.
Low-cost carriers are those that the industry recognizes as operating under a low-cost business model, with lower infrastructure costs and higher productivity.

Regional airlines
Regional carrier FTEs were down 7.1 percent in January 2009 compared to January 2008.
ExpressJet, down 31.2 percent, and Republic, down 33.5 percent, reported the largest decreases in the regional group. Compass Airlines, up 109.6 percent, and Mesaba Airlines, up 25.9 percent, reported the largest increases in the group.
Regional carrier FTEs rose from 55,800 in January 2005 to 56,700 in January 2009, an increase of 1.7 percent.
The 12 regional carriers reporting employment data in both 2005 and 2009 employed 4.5 percent fewer FTEs in January 2009 than in January 2005.  PSA reported the largest percentage decline, down 44.4 percent, followed by Air Wisconsin, down 28.5 percent, and Atlantic Southeast, down 24.8 percent.  American Eagle, ExpressJet, Comair, Mesa and Executive also reported fewer FTEs in January 2009 than January 2005.
Pinnacle Airlines reported the biggest four-year gain, 38.0 percent, followed by SkyWest Airlines at 24.9 percent and Mesaba at 20.7 percent. Horizon Airlines also reported more FTEs in January 2009 than January 2005.
Effective with April 2008 reporting, Trans States Airlines no longer met the reporting requirements for filing monthly airline employment data. Trans States reported 1,315 FTEs in January 2008.
Regional carrier Lynx Airlines began reporting employment data in February 2008.  Lynx reported 354 FTEs in January. Regional carrier Colgan Airlines began reporting employment data in April 2008. Colgan reported 1,274 FTEs in January.
Regional carriers typically provide service from small cities, using primarily regional jets to support the network carriers’ hub and spoke systems.
 

Source: Transportweekly