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5,000 Employees Recruited By US Airlines In April – Simple Flying

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US airlines have been struggling with a shortage of trained crew, from pilots to ground ops. But there is some good news. The US Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics just released its April 2022 employment data, and 4,752 jobs were added by both cargo and passenger airlines.

These jobs are for pilots, flight attendants, administrative, and maintenance personnel. The figures represent a 13.9% growth from April 2021 in hiring for all passenger airlines.

It’s also worth noting that network airlines like Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines represent 61.8 % of all airline employment versus 22.9 % from low-cost airlines like Southwest and Spirit. Regional and other airlines are the balance.

Recovering but not a full recovery yet from COVID-19

nPhoto: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying”” data-img-url=”https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Full_Size_of_737-Rising-While-A220-Taxis-to-Head-of-KSEA-Runway-in-Near-Sunset_01.jpg” data-modal-container-id=”single-image-modal-container” data-modal-id=”single-image-modal”>

737 Rising While A220 Taxis to Head of KSEA Runway in Near-Sunset

The airlines are still recovering from COVID-19 imposed lockdowns, furloughs and such.

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

Although moving in the right direction, these hiring numbers are not representative of a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Until vaccines were available for the general US population in April 2021, lockdowns were necessary to protect our fellow humans.

Simple Flying asked back in early 2020 if masks would be part of amenity kits, American Airlines implemented social distancing, and United Airlines slashed capacity and jobs by 50%. Although commercial aviation has come a long way from the dark days of spring 2020, the April 2022 hiring number of 275,539 is still less than the April 2019 high of 287,095.

Top Ten airlines by employment

Below is a table from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics as to which airlines are in the top ten for April 2022 by employment:

Rank Airline Total FTE Employees Carrier Group
1 American 95,762 Network
2 Delta 86,257 Network
3 United 76,226 Network
4 Southwest 60,311 Low-cost
5 JetBlue 20,102 Low-cost
6 Alaska 17,294 Network
7 SkyWest 13,614 Regional
8 Envoy 13,500 Regional
9 Spirit 10,490 Low-cost
10 Piedmont 7,022 Regional

Alaska Airlines has been busy hiring too

nPhoto: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying”” data-img-url=”https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Full_Size_of_Alaska-Airlines-Jets-Making-KSEA-Busy_01.jpg” data-modal-container-id=”single-image-modal-container” data-modal-id=”single-image-modal”>

Alaska Airlines Jets Making KSEA Busy - Seattle-Tacoma International Airport flight ops as seen from one of the gates

Alaska Airlines is doing incredibly well in hiring, as evidenced by this May 2022 photo.

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

Alaska Airlines, an airline that had some tragic overscheduling beyond crewing numbers, found that in April it got a 10% improvement in overall employment compared with April 2021. Worth noting April 2021 is when vaccines from COVID-19 became available to the general US population – not just health care heroes and high-risk populations.

With plenty of communications regarding how Alaska Airlines plans to address the pilot shortage, the airline issued the following statement regarding its hiring in the recent weeks.

We’ve undertaken significant hiring efforts for both flight attendants and pilots. At this point, we have successfully hired enough flight attendants and will likely not start hiring again until the fall. For pilots, we have training classes filled through the end of July with dozens more in a pool who will start training later this summer. We continue our work to fill the pilot pipeline through programs like the Ascend Academy and True North Pilot Development Program.

Low-cost airlines rebounding well too

nPhoto: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying”” data-img-url=”https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Full_Size_of_Southwest-Airlines-737-800-Pulling-Up-from-SF-Bay-Area_01.jpg” data-modal-container-id=”single-image-modal-container” data-modal-id=”single-image-modal”>

Southwest Airlines 737-800 Pulling Up from SF Bay Area

Low-cost airlines like Southwest are also having good hiring numbers.

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

Not only is Alaska Airlines doing well in hiring, but so are Southwest Airlines and other low-cost carriers. As an example Southwest Airlines almost recovered its employee numbers from COVID-19 – in April 2022, it had 60,917 employees versus April 2020’s 62,191. It’s still 1,458 employees more than in March 2022.

Optimistic about the future of airlines with hiring rebounding? Let us know in the comments please.

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

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