Job growth soaring for American Airlines, Southwest

Employment is up at North Texas-based American Airlines and Southwest Airlines as both carriers outpaced their competitors in job growth, according to figures released Thursday.

 

Fort Worth-based American  employed 59,905 fill-time workers and 7,427 part-timers in the United States in June, for a total of 67,332, up 6.4 percent from a year ago. Southwest employment rose 4.9 percent to 46,808 full-timers and 1,674 part-timers, totaling 48,482 nationwide.

 

Only Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines with 84,728 total U.S. employees, and Chicago-based United Airlines with 84,059, employed more.

 

The employment gains come at a time of relative prosperity for the airlines but also a time when Southwest and some of the other carriers are dealing with labor problems. Federal investigators, meanwhile, are probing whether the country’s largest airlines violated competition rules, and shareholders' concerns of a stall in the market have stock prices in descent.

 

American posted a record profit of $1.7 billion in the second quarter of 2015 and Southwest also set a record, with net income of $608 million. Southwest and American in July also broke their all-time records for traffic.

 

Overall, U.S. passenger airlines employed 3 percent more workers in June 2015 than in June 2014, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today. June was the 19th consecutive month that full-time equivalent employment for U.S. passenger airlines exceeded the same month of the previous year and was the highest monthly total since September 2008.

 

Month-to-month, the number of FTEs rose 0.3 percent nationwide from May to June, the sixth consecutive monthly increase.

 

The five network airlines that collectively employ two-thirds of the airline FTEs reported 3.1 percent more FTEs in June 2015 than in June 2014. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways increased FTEs from June 2014 while United Airlines reduced FTEs. Month-to-month, the number of network airline FTEs rose 0.4 percent from May to June, rising for the ninth consecutive month.

 

The six low-cost carriers reported 4.9 percent more FTEs in June 2015 than in June 2014. Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and Virgin America reported increases while Frontier Airlines reduced FTEs. Month-to-month, the number of low-cost airline FTEs rose 0.6 percent from May to June, rising for the third consecutive month.

 

(Bill Hethcock - Dallas Business Journal)