US Airlines Hiring..Barely. Sun Country up 16%

US scheduled passenger airlines posted a full-time-equivalent (FTE) employee count of 384,478 personnel in August, up just 1% year-over-year, according to the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).


Nonetheless, it was the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year employment growth, with August’s FTE employee count registered 3,992 additional workers compared to August 2013 -- 1,765 fewer FTE positions than July of this year. July’s FTE employee count was the highest monthly FTE position total since September 2012.

For the US major/network carriers, August FTE employment was up 0.1% year-over-year, to 256,095 total FTE positions. FTE job growth at Alaska Airlines was 4.6% (to 9,966 total FTE positions), followed by Delta Air Lines (up 2.5%, to 75,734 FTE positions), US Airways (up 1.1%, to 31,530 FTE positions) and American Airlines (up 0.8%, to 59,602 FTE positions). United Airlines personnel in August fell 3.4% year-over-year, to 79,263 FTE positions.

Job growth at Hawaiian Airlines, a major carrier classified by BTS as an “other carrier” (airlines that operate within specific niche markets) was up 2% year-over-year, to 4,803 FTE positions.

Job growth at the major US low-cost-carriers (LCCs) was 3% year-over-year in August, to 71,387 total FTE positions. Allegiant Air posted the greatest August FTE job gain, at 15.5%, to 2,248 employees. Spirit Airlines job growth for the month was up 11.9% year-over-year, to 3,774 FTE positions. Frontier Airlines was up 7.9%, to 3,832 FTE positions, followed by Virgin America (up 3.8%, to 2,508 FTE positions), JetBlue (up 3.5%, to 13,456 FTE positions) and Southwest Airlines (up 1.3%, to 45,569 FTE positions).

Sun Country Airlines, a Minnesota-based national carrier/LCC classified by BTS as an “other carrier,” reported employment growth of 16.2% year-over-year, to 1,185 FTE positions.

August employment at the 13 reporting US regional carriers was up 2.5% year-over-year, as PSA Airlines’ employment grew 44.5% year-over-year, to 1,540 FTE positions. Republic Airlines was up 19.5%, to 2,954 FTE positions, followed by Mesa Airlines (up 19.3%, to 2,055 FTE positions), Compass Airlines (up 9.8%, to 1,203 FTE positions) and SkyWest Airlines (up 5%, to 9,896 positions). August job losses at regional carriers were dominated by Chautauqua Airlines (down 26.8% year-over-year, to 857 FTE positions) and Endeavor Air (down 8.1% year-over-year, to 3,741 FTE positions).