US Airline Employment Falls 5.5% In April:Transportation Dept

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Employment at U.S. passenger airlines fell 5.5% in April from a year earlier, according to the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, as carriers continue to shrink capacity.

The decline marks the 10th consecutive decrease for the industry, which grappled in the first half of last year with skyrocketing fuel prices and since then with the economic downturn.

Low-cost airlines bucked the broader trend with a 2.2% increase in full-time-equivalent employees, the second-straight monthly increase. Before March, the figure had dropped every month since America West and US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) merged in October 2007.

The old-line-network airlines, which still account for two-thirds of airline employment, reported a 6.5% drop, their eighth decline in a row. Regional carriers posted a 7.4% decrease.

UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United Airlines posted the biggest decline among legacy carriers at 13%, while ExpressJet Holdings Inc.'s (XJT) ExpressJet had the biggest regional-carrier drop at 29%. Compass Airlines Inc. and GoJet Airlines LLC posted the biggest gains in the regional segment, having respective increases of 61% and 33%.

In the low-cost sector, Virgin America posted an 81% increase, by far the largest rise, as the carrier continues its expansion from its 2007 launch. Only AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI) and Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. (FRNTQ) had decreases.

-By Jay Miller, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2331; [e-mail]