The Airlines are Hiring

The passenger airline industry has not been getting much in the way of good press over the last few years.  The government had to intervene to stop airlines from virtually holding passenger hostage on the tarmac of up to 11 hours waiting for take off.  Security measures have made flying more and more inconvenient, and between measuring exactly how much mouth wash you can bring on the plane to the infamous cry of “don’t touch my junk”, the industry has become fodder for late night comedy TV.  Not to mention the occasional bankruptcy.

Perhaps in an effort to do a better job on all these fronts, the airlines have been hiring.  Data recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) shows that from March 2010 to March 2011 employment rose 1.5 percent.  This is the fourth consecutive increase in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year. FTE calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the March FTE total of 382,796 for the scheduled passenger carriers was 5,535 more than that of March 2010 and the highest employment number since August 2009. This fourth consecutive monthly increase in FTE levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year follows declines that began in mid-2008.

Aside from supplying much-needed jobs to the country, given the high unemployment rate, hopefully the extra hands that have been hired will lead to better service.