U.S. Cargo and Passenger Airlines Gained 7,044 Jobs in April 2026

BTS 26-53

This release is published on a fixed schedule as required by the Office of Management and Budget, and statistics in this release may be revised when inputs to the statistics are corrected or updated. Data on the program page of this website are the most up-to-date and complete.

Note: In June 2024, FedEx Ground and FedEx Services merged with FedEx Express to form Federal Express Corporation. Consequently, carrier FX experienced a significant increase in employee count, thereby increasing the total number of employees within the industry.

May 2024 Federal Express numbers are 233,739, while Federal Express Corporation June 2024 numbers are 432,127.

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have merged and employment from both companies is now reported solely under Alaska Airlines. Hawaiian Airlines no longer reports separate employment numbers.

U.S. Airlines: Total Number of Employees (both Full-Time and Part-Time)

U.S. airline industry (passenger and cargo airlines combined) employment increased to 1,036,280 workers in April 2026, 7,044 (0.68%) more workers than in March 2026 (1,029,236).

U.S. scheduled-service passenger airlines employed 559,555 workers in April 2026, or 54.0% of the industry-wide total. Passenger airlines gained 1,075 employees in April 2026. Alaska Airlines Inc. led scheduled passenger carriers, adding 7,193 employees; United Air Lines Inc. added 1,011, and Southwest Airlines Co. added 237.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 472,319 workers in April 2026, or 46% of the industry-wide total. Cargo carriers gained 5,921 employees in April. FedEx, the leading air cargo employer, increased employment by 5,984 jobs.

Scheduled passenger airlines gained 825 full-time equivalents in April 2026

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 April 2026 industry-wide numbers include 754,002 full-time and 282,278 part-time workers for a total of 895,141 FTEs, an increase from March of 3,369 FTEs (0.38%).

The 25 U.S. scheduled passenger airlines reporting data for April 2026 employed 529,107 FTEs, 825 FTEs (0.16%) more than in March 2026. Data by passenger carrier category can be found in the accompanying tables.

U.S. cargo airlines employed 361,711 FTEs in April 2026, up 2,495 FTEs (0.69%) from March 2026.

Reporting Notes

Data is compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial air carriers as of June 10, 2026. 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 April 2026.

The next update for U.S. airline employment is scheduled for Thursday, July 16, 2026.

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