US airline workforce up 3% in October

US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that US airlines employed 389,444 workers in October, up 3% from October 2010.

BTS said this is the 11^th consecutive increase in full-time equivalent employee levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year.

BTS said Continental Airlines reported 14% more full-time employees, the largest increase among the network carriers. US Airways followed with a 3.8% increase. Only two network airlines, Alaska Airlines (0.5%) and Delta Air Lines (down 0.1%), reported decreased employment.

According to the report, low-cost carriers (LCCs) reported 6.2% increases in full-time employment over the year-ago month. Five LCCs—Virgin America Airlines (up 20.2%), Spirit Airlines (up 13.2%), JetBlue Airways (up 7.7%), Southwest Airlines (up 6.7%) and AirTran Airways (up 2.4%)—reported workforce increases. Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines reported decreases of 3.9% and 0.1%, respectively.

Regional carriers reported a 2.1% increase in full-time employment in October 2011 compared to the year-ago month. Among the 17 regional carriers, 12 reported increased employment levels and five reported reduced employment levels. Shuttle America (up 27.3%) and Colgan Airlines (up 13.6%) reported the largest percentage increases. Comair (down 20.2%), Mesa (down 12%) and Mesaba (down 11.4%) reported the largest percentage decreases, BTS stated.