U.S. scheduled air carriers employed 5.5 percent fewer workers this past August than a year earlier, the 14th straight month of declines, keeping the industry-wide monthly figure at a 16-year low, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The number of full-time U.S. airline workers dropped to 384,396 in August, 22,429 below August 2008. All the network airlines decreased employment from August 2008 to August 2009 as did three low-cost carriers.

Regional carriers American Eagle Airlines, SkyWest Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines, Comair, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Pinnacle Airlines, Horizon Air, Mesa Airlines, Air Wisconsin Airlines, Colgan Airlines and PSA Airlines also reported reduced employment levels compared to last year.

The seven network airlines had 258,569 full-time workers in August, 67.3 percent of the passenger airline total, while low-cost carriers employed 16.3 percent and regional carriers employed 14.6 percent.

American Airlines had the biggest payroll in August among the network carriers. But American, with 67,800 employees in August, was down 6.5 percent from August 2008, Delta Air Lines was the second largest employer with 45,900 workers, down 2.8 percent from the same month last year.

Southwest Airlines employed the most workers among the discount carriers with 34,660 employees in August. JetBlue was the second largest employer with 10,992 employees and AirTran was third among the low-cost carriers with 8,020 employees.

American Eagle had the fattest workforce roster among regional carriers, with 8,997 employees in August, down 5.9 percent from a year ago. SkyWest was second with 8,558 workers, down 6.7 percent from August 2008, and Comair ranks third with 5,303 employees, a 9.4 percent decrease.

Among the network airlines, the number of workers fell 6.4 percent in August, the 12th consecutive monthly decrease from the same month of the previous year. The network airlines employed 17,549 fewer workers in August 2009 than in August 2008. Northwest Airlines, now a unit of Delta Air Lines, saw the biggest payroll slide (nearly 12 percent), followed hy United Airlines (8.4 percent).

Employment at low-cost carriers decreased 0.2 percent in August from August 2008. This was the first monthly decrease following six months of monthly employment increases.

Four low-cost carriers reported year-to-year increases: Virgin America, 26 percent; Allegiant Airlines, 14.6 percent; AirTran Airways, 0.9 percent; and JetBlue Airways, 5.6 percent. Southwest, Spirit and Frontier reported year-to-year workforce decreases.

At the regional airlines, the number of workers fell 6.8 percent, the 12th consecutive month with a decline from the same month of the previous year. ExpressJet and Atlantic Southeast had the biggest decrease, at 23.5 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively. Republic Airlines, up 25.7 percent, and GoJet Airlines, up 31.6 percent, reported the largest increases in the group.

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