The Transportation Department said Tuesday, March 9, 2021, that the airline industry employed 713,949 people full-time or part-time in January.
Cargo airlines have added jobs while passenger airlines have shed workers, mostly through incentives for workers to quit or take early retirement.
The Transportation Department said Tuesday that 713,949 people held full-time or part-time jobs at airlines in mid-January, up from 694,638 in December and the low of 673,278 in October.
American Airlines eliminated 8,700 jobs, or 8% of its workers, and Southwest shed more than 4,600 jobs, or 7.5%.
FedEx's express-delivery division grew by about 24,000 jobs, or 9.8%, United Parcel Service added 183 jobs, or 2.9%, in its air-shipment business, and smaller cargo carriers such as Atlas Air also added jobs, according to the Transportation Department.