Frontier Airlines had one of the biggest employment increases of large U.S. passenger airlines between January 2009 and January 2010, according to a report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Only Delta — because it merged last year with Northwest — showed a bigger job jump. It was unclear why Frontier’s employment numbers climbed.
Total employment at Frontier, the No. 2 carrier in Denver, rose from 4,913 in January 2009 to 5,798 in January 2010. About half of the new jobs are full time, and half are part time.
Denver’s largest carrier, United, whittled total jobs from 48,500 in January 2009 to 46,362. Southwest, the No. 3 airline, dipped from 35,879 total employees in 2009 to 35,107 in 2010.
Overall, the U.S. airline workforce dwindled 3.2 percent from 583,996 in January 2009 to 565,385 in January 2010.
Blamed for the drop are fewer passengers as a result of the economic downturn. An encouraging sign, however, is that airline employment is up from 564,514 in December.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
