DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

U.S. passenger airlines employed 5.7% fewer workers in March than they did a year earlier, the ninth-straight month of declines, according to the Department of Transportation.

But low-cost airlines' employment edged up 0.1% in March and posted the first month-over-month increase since October 2007.

The string of cutbacks put March's industrywide total at 392,100 workers, up slightly from the prior three months, the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said. In January, the number hit 390,700, the lowest since 1993. The calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

The bureau said all the legacy airlines' employment numbers fell, as did low-cost carriers including AirTran Holdings Inc.'s (AAI) AirTran Airways and regional carriers including AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Eagle Airlines.

The employment cuts come as airlines are slashing capacity as consumers cutting back their spending take fewer trips. Many airlines have recently said demand was falling even faster than their capacity cuts.

The seven network carriers' employment decreased 6.7%, its seventh-straight decrease after 16 consecutive months of year-over-year growth. The category includes Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and its recent merger partner Northwest Airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United Airlines, AMR's American Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and Alaska Air Group Inc.'s (ALK) Alaska Airlines.

-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5089; kerry.grace@dowjones.com