Employment Requirements and

Changing Occupational Structure

in Civil Aviation

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

W . W illard W irtz, S ecretary Bulletin No. 1367

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

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Employment Requirements and

Changing Occupational Structure

in Civil Aviation

V

Bulletin No. 1367

June 1964

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

W. Willard W irtz, Secretary

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

I v a n Clague, Commissioner

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Preface

Civil aviation has developed rapidly, particularly since the end of World War II. By 

I960, civil aviation employed about 280,500 people. In that year, the Nation’s scheduled 

airlines, the largest employer of civil aviation workers, accounted for almost as many intercity passenger-miles as buses and railroads combined, and currently these airlines make 

an even greater contribution to the mobility of our society. The future development of civil 

aviation promises to be as dynamic as its past. Continuing rapid increases in passenger 

traffic and much greater use of small aircraft in business, and recreational activities 

are expected to result in further rapid employment growth.

The Bureau is grateful for the cooperation of officials of airlines, general aviation companies, trade associations, trade unions, and Government agencies, and others who 

cooperated generously in providing information, and reviewing and commenting on the draft 

of this study.

The bulletin was prepared by Sheldon H. Luskin under the supervision of Allan F . 

Salt. The project was directed by Bernard Yabroff in the Bureau’s Division of Manpower 

and Occupational Outlook, under the general direction of Harold Goldstein, Assistant Commissioner for Manpower and Employment Statistics.

iii

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CONTENTS

Page

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................... • . l

Summary................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Chapter I. Evolution of civil aviation.............................................................................. 5

Early development.........................................-............................................................................................................ 5

Current structure........................... 21

Chapter II. Occupational structure and trends. ........................................................................................................27

A irlin es............................................................................................................................................................................. 17

Scheduled airlines. .................................................................................................................................................. 27

Certificated supplemental a irlin e s....................................................................................................................24

Foreign-flag airlin es...............................................................................................................................................25

General aviation..............................................................................................................................................................25

Federal Aviation Agency and Civil Aeronautics B o ard.................................................................................. 29

Chapter III. Employment outlook, 1970 .................................................................................................................... 31

Economic and Technological Framework............................................. 31

Employment projections................................................................................. 33

Scheduled airlines..................................................................................................................................................... 34

Certificated supplemental airlines..................................... 39

Foreign-flag airlin es...............................................................................................................................................39

General aviation........................................................................................................................................................ 39

Federal Aviation Agency and Civil Aeronautics B o ard .............................................................................. 42

Appendix A. Methodology used to estimate general aviation aircraft..........................................................43

Appendix B. Selected Bibliography................................. 47

Appendix C. Glossary........................................................................................................................................................ 53

Text tables:

1. Scheduled airline activity, selected measures, 1939*46 ............................................................. 8

2. Estimated miles flown in general aviation, by segment, 1950-60 .............................................. 10

3. CAA/FAA and CAB employment, 1950-60........................................................................................... 20

4. Civil aviation activity, selected measures, I960 ............................................................................ 11

5. Certificated and foreign-flag airline activity, selected measures, I960 ................................. 22

6. Employment in air transportation, certificated and noncertificated carriers, mid-March

1959, and number of civil and military airports and airfields and active civil aircraft, 11 States and the United States, I960.................................................................................. 13

7. General aviation activity, selected measures, I960 .................................... 15

8. Scheduled airline employment by occupational group, 1947-60 18

9. Pilots and copilots and maintenance workers, per scheduled airline aircraft, and

other flight personnel per scheduled airline aircraft over 80,000 pounds, 1947-60............... 21

10. Scheduled airline revenue passengermiles per flight attendant, 1947-60 ............................... 22

11. Supplemental airline activity, selected measures, 1957-60.......................................................... 24

12. Ownership of business aircraft, by type of aircraft, 1957............................................................. 28

13. FAA air traffic service employment, by place of employment, and employment of air

traffic controllers, fiscal years 1952-60........................................................................................ 30

14. Employment in civil aviation, I960 and estimated 1970................................................................ 33

15. Scheduled airline employment, by occupational group I960 and estimated 1970 ................... 35

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CONTENTS-Continued

Page

Appendix tables:

A-l. General aviation aircraft, by segment, actual 1954 and 1957, estimated I960 and 1970. . . . 44

A-2. General aviation aircraft, by segment and type of aircraft, actual 1954 and 1957,

estimated i 960 and 1970 ........................................................................................................................... 45

A-3. Percent distribution of general aviation aircraft, by segment, actual 1954 and 1957,

and estimated i 960................................................................................................... ..................................46

Chart 1. Distribution of Civil aviation employment, I9 6 0 ....................................................................................... 4

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E M P L O Y M E N T R E Q U IR E M E N T S A N D C H A N G IN G O C C U P A T IO N A L STRUCTURE

IN C IV IL A V IA T IO N

Introduction

This bulletin presents the results of a Bureau of Labor Statistics study of employment in 

civil aviation, particularly occupational patterns and trends. Aggregate employment totals shown 

cover full-time and part-time workers in virtually all nonmilitary flying activities, including the airlines 

(U.S. certificated route, supplemental, and foreign-flag),1 general aviation (business, commercial, instructional*, pleasure, and test, ferry, and other flying, and certificated repair stations), and the regulatory and flying activities of the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). 

Other Federal Government flying activities, and those of State and local governments, are excluded 

from this study .because of the relatively small number of workers employed. Workers who perform 

services an ciliary, to civil aviation, such as those employed by civil airports, air freight forwarders, 

or airport limousine operators, are considered to be outside civil aviation as the term is used in 

this bulletin.

Civil aviation was selected for study because substantial employment growth in this field is 

anticipated during the remainder of the 1960*8 and because careers in civil aviation are attractive 

to many young people. 2 The future opportunities to enter civil aviation, that are described in 

this bulletin, are limited to those resulting from employment growth. Because pertinent data were not 

available, no attempt was made to estimate job opportunities resulting from the need to replace the 

many thousands of workers who leave civil aviation for jobs in other industries, or who retire or die. 

Job openings from these sources may be more numerous than those created by employment growth, 

even in some of the faster growing occupational categories, such a)s flight attendant.

This bulletin does not examine developments affecting the availability of trained workers to 

meet employment requirements. The availability of an adequate supply of trained workers is particularly important for occupations, such as pilots, mechanics and others, requiring extended training. 

In this connection, a comprehensive investigation of current and future manpower requirements and 

supply in such occupations, was started in early 1964 by the Aviation Human Resources Study 

Board, an independent group supported by the Federal Aviation Agency. This project will include 

the aviation sectors covered in this bulletin, as well as the military, State Governments, and aircraft manufacturing. The Board is also investigating the capacity of existing private and public 

schools that train civil aviation workers in long lead-time occupations, and changes in training 

programs that might result from technological advances.

In addition to presenting the available employment data for the scheduled and supplemental 

airlines for I960, this bulletin provides estimates of the number of general aviation workers,and 

of U.S. citizens working for foreign-flag airlines. Employment was projected to 1970 for civil 

aviation as a whole, and for its three major divisions—airlines, general aviation, and the FAA and 

CAB, separately.

^For definitions, see glossary.

2 A discussion of civil aviation occupations, including the nature of the work, education and training requirements, earnings and working conditions, and employment outlook, appears in the Occupational Outlook Handbook,

1963-64, 6th ed. (BLS Bulletin 1375), pp. 553-573-

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In the course of the research for this bulletin, gaps and weaknesses in existing civil aviation employment and occupational data, particularly for general aviation, were encountered. Deficiencies in existing data limit the use of some of the 1960 employment estimates to indications of 

general magnitude, subject to revision as new information becomes available. The long-range projections of employment also require cautious interpretation.

Some of the information collected for the study was obtained from basic statistical sources, 

such as the FAA and CAB. Other information was obtained from sources such as periodicals, books, special studies, and newspaper articles. Interviews with industry, trade 

associations, unions, and Government officials also provided much helpful information. Source 

references are given in the text, table footnotes, and in the selected bibliography.

The study of employment outlook in civil aviation used I960 as the base year for projections 

in this bulletin, which were made to 1970. The year I960 was the latest year for which most of 

the basic statistics for civil aviation were available at the time the study was undertaken in 1962.

At the time this bulletin was going to press, the employment projections were assessed in the 

light of actual experience between I960 and 1963* For the airlines, current employment levels 

approximate that implied by the projections. For general aviation, the number of planes in use 

in 1963 is consistent with the projected number; employment projections in general aviation were 

based largely on the projected number of general aviation aircraft. Employment in 1963 in independent certificated repair stations, the largest segment of general aviation, is estimated to be 

somewhat higher than the level implied by projections in this bulletin.

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Summary

Civil aviation employment is expected to rise by more than a quarter between I960 and 1970.

By 1970, the number of civil aviation workers may reach nearly 360,000, 80,000 more than in I960. 

Airlines* employment, which makes up almost three-fifths of civil aviation employment, may rise 

by about 20 percent as passenger and cargo traffic increase. In general aviation employment growth 

is expected to be more than twice as rapid as for the airlines. In contrast, employment in the Federal Government (Federal Aviation Agency and Civil Aeronautics Board), is expected to grow slowly. These projectionasare based on a number of assumptions concerning the economy, and technological developments, in the 1960*s. ShoultJ these assumptions not be realized, the projected 

employment levels would not be met.

In the scheduled airlines, which.employ practically all of the airlines* personnel, the number of workers nearly doubled between 1947 and I960, mainly because of huge increases in passenger traffic and the size of the airline fleet. By I960, employment had reached 167,300. The 

number of nonflight workers, who account for 4 out of 5 scheduled airline employees, nearly doubled largely because of additional reservation, ticket, baggage, and other services required by the 

growth in passenger traffic. Even more rapid increases occurred in flight employment, mainly because of the rise in the size of the airline fleet.

Scheduled airline passenger and cargo traffic will continue to grow in the years ahead. By 1970, 

the number of revenue passenger-miles flown by the scheduled airlines is expected to increase by 

about 85 percent over the I960 level because of increases in population and family income. Cargo 

ton-miles may increase more than fourfold because of rate reductions that are likely to occur due to more 

efficient aircraft and cargo loading procedures. Employment in the scheduled airlines is projected to increase by about a fifth, with most of this growth occurring among nonflight occupations. Within 

this group, aircraft and traffic servicing employment probably will grow most rapidly and, by 1970, 

may account for nearly 1 out of 3 scheduled airline workers. Increases in flight employment are 

expected to be limited to stewardesses and other flight attendants.

Employment in the certificated supplemental airlines in 1970 is expected to decline to about 

half of the 2,300 employed in I960. The number of certificated supplemental airlines is expected 

to decrease as a result of recent Federal legislation limiting their activity and establishing additional aircraft maintenance requirements and stricter financial regulation. Employment of U.S. 

citizens in this country by foreign-flag airlines was estimated at more than 6,400 in 1960, mainly 

in aircraft and traffic servicing, and office occupations. By 1970, employment in these airlines is 

expected to grow by more than 70 percent as a result of increases in international air traffic.

General aviation employment, including part-time workers, may reach 100,000 by 1970, compared with an estimated 64,000 workers in 1960. Certificated repair stations employed the largest 

group of general aviation workers in I960—about 26,000,virtually all as airplane mechanics. By 

1970, such stations will still be the largest employer, with about 37,000 workers. Growth will 

stem from the anticipated large increase in the number of general aviation aircraft. Business and 

commercial flying activities, which employed 16,000 and 14,000 workers, respectively, in 1960, 

mainly as pilots and copilots, are expected to employ about 25,000 workers each by 1970. In 

business flying, employment will increase because of the greater use of aircraft to reduce nonproductive travel time. In commercial flying, higher employment will result from increased demand 

for more of the services typically associated with commercial flying, such as crop dusting and forhire (charter) flying.

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DISTRIBUTION OF CIVIL AVIATION EMPLOYMENT, 1960

PERCENT

0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0 7 0 8 0 9 0 100

1 I 1

Federal Government 14

__ I___________ l

CIVIL A V IA TIO N 280,500 WORKERS

Scheduled 95*

Foreign-flage 3 |

Supplemental 2 |

20 4 0 6 0

PERCENT

8 0 100

Independent certificated

repair stations 41

Business

flying 25

-^Commercial flying 21

Instructional flying 11

Test, ferry and other 2

J_______!_______1

4 0 6 0

PERCENT

0 20 4 0 6 0 8 0 100

PERCENT

Commercial flying consists of three activities —

for-hire flying, crop dusting, and patrol and

survey flying

0 20 8 0 100

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Employment in the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) is 

projected to increase by about 6,000 to 47,000. Nearly all of these workers will be employed by 

the FAA. In this agency, the number of air traffic controllers, flight service station specialists, 

and other air traffic servicing workers will probably increase rapidly. Employment of these workers is expected to rise as a result of increased traffic and services.

Research now underway by the Aviation Human Resources Study Board, an independent group 

supported by the FAA, is expected to develop information on the relationship between supply of 

and demand for civil aviation workers in future years. This group is also investigating the capacity of existing public and private schools that train civil aviation workers, and changes in training 

programs that might result from technological advances.3

3For more detail on the work of this Board, see p. 1.

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Chapter I. Evolution of Civil Aviation

Early Development

In 1918, the achievements of Eddie Rickenbacker and other World War I flying aces were 

providing the public with colorful news stories. Still more significantly for the future of commercial air transportation, in that same year, the U.S. Post Office Department inaugurated regular airmail service between New York City and Washington, D.C. During the next 8 years, the Post 

Office Department laid the groundwork for the air transportation system by establishing transcontinental air routes, developing navigational equipment and flying procedures, and building airports. 

The airmail service demonstrated the advantages of air transportation, and provided training for 

Charles A. Lindbergh and others who helped develop commercial air transportation during the late 

1920’s, and 1930’s. In 1926, private operators replaced the Post Office Department as airmail 

carriers, and additional airlines were established mainly .with the intention of obtaining airmail 

contracts.4 With this stimulus, employment in the infant industry increased from several hundred 

persons in 1926 to about 6,300 workers in 1933.5

During the late twenties and early thirties, the airlines were heavily dependent on airmail 

revenues for income because passenger transportation was negligible. Between 1929 and 1932, 

according to the Office of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation, mail accounted for nearly 

three-fourths, passenger nearly one-fourth, and cargo the remainder of total airline revenue. High 

cost, uncomfortable equipment, and a relatively poor safety record discouraged passenger travel.

In 1934, when the Federal Government temporarily canceled all commercial airmail contracts,6 the 

airlines tried to attract a passenger market by introducing larger, faster, and more comfortable 

airplanes. Between 1934 and 1938, representative airplane speeds increased from 110 miles per 

hour to 158 miles per hour and average seating capacity increased from 8 to 13 seats per plane.7 

The public, which was becoming increasingly airminded because of the widely publicized achievements of noted aviators, accepted air travel to a greater degree. In 1935, the airlines carried 

nearly 40 percent more passengers than in the previous year and, by 1939, passenger traffic was 

more than three times the 1934 level.

Increases in airline passenger traffic contributed to increases in employment, and changes 

in occupational structure. Airline employment increased from 6,500 in 1934 to nearly. 16,000 in 

1939.8 Whereas 46 percent of airline employees in 1934 were pilots, copilots, or mechanics, only 

36 percent were in these occupations in 1939. This relative decline reflected increasing employment of stewardesses, ticket and reservations agents, and office personnel who were needed to 

serve the growing number of passengers.

4John H. Frederick, Commercial Air Transportation, 5th ed. (Homewood, 111., Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1961),

p. 70

^Estimate based on data in Hours, Wages, and Working Conditions in Scheduled Air Transportation (U.S. Office 

of the JFederal Coordinator of Transportation-OFCT, March 1936), table 27, p. 86.

kpaul M. Godehn and Frank E. Quindry, "Air Mail Contract Cancellations of 1934 and Resulting Litigation," 

The Journal o f Air Law and Commerce (Dallas, Texas), vol. 21, No. 3 (Summer 1954), p. 253. 

gjohn H. Frederick, op. cit., p. 75.

8CAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation (Civil Aeronautics Administration), 1958 ed., pp. 66 and 83; FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation (Federal Aviation Agency), 1961 ed., pp. 80 and 98.

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Despite the expansion in passenger traffic and improvements in equipment, the airlines 

faced many problems during the late 1930’s. Because of the general business depression and a 

series of costly accidents, many airlines were unprofitable and some were on the verge of bankruptcy. Others lacked capital to purchase needed equipment. To assist the airlines, and to provide for unified Government regulation, Congress passed the Civil Aeronautics Act in 1938. This 

act broadened the scope of air safety regulations, placed the air carriers under the same type of 

economic regulation covering public utilities, and authorized subsidy assistance to the carriers 

in the form of mail pay.9

Between 1939 and the entrance of the United States into World War II, employment in 

the scheduled airlines increased by almost 70 percent, to 26,500. Increases, in passenger 

traffic, partly reflecting the establishment of new routes, 10 caused most of this employment expansion.

During and immediately following the war years, increasing demand for air transportation 

resulted in exceptionally high utilization of scheduled airline capacity,11 and large increases in 

employment. Between 1941 and 1946, employment increased nearly fourfold—reaching 96,600 in 

1946 (table 1). More than half of this increase occurred between 1944 and 1946, when many additional aircraft were placed into service.

Developments that occurred during World War II provided the impetus for the subsequent 

expansion in airline passenger traffic and employment. The airplane’s wartime achievements 

made it more acceptable to the public as a mode of travel. Many people flew for the first time 

during the war. New flying equipment and techniques developed by the military during the war 

were adopted by the airlines. In addition, the airlines, in anticipation of large traffic increases, 

hired many thousands of workers including pilots, copilots, mechanics, and other workers trained 

by the military.

9More specifically, the act provided for a five-member Civil Aeronautics Authority to regulate economic activity 

in the industry; a'n administrator, to develop navigational and control systems, promote civil aviation, and carry on 

experimental work; and a three-man Air Safety Board, to investigate accidents. After 2 years, the tripartite organization was replaced by a bipartite organization similar to the one in effect today. The Civil Aeronautics Board replaced 

the Civil Aeronautics Authority and the Air Safety Board, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration was established 

in the U.S. Department of Commerce to assume the responsibilities of the administrator. 10

1941.

The route mileage operated by domestic scheduled airlines increased by nearly 25 percent between 1939 and

From 1942 to 1945, the domestic airlines operated at between 72 and 89 percent of passenger capacity and in 

1946, at 79 percent of capacity. In the 5 preceding years, 1937-41, the domestic airlines had operated at less than 

60 percent of capacity. Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, 1961 ed., p. 11-17.

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Table 1. Scheduled airline activity, selected measures, 1939-46

Years Total

Employment

Number of planes Revenue plane-miles

(in millions)

Revenue

passenger-miles,

scheduled service

(in billions)

1939 ............. 16,000 360 90.8 0.8

1940 ............ 22,100 437 120.2 1.2

1 9 4 1 ............ 26,500 453 149.3 1.5

1942 ............ 39,700 254 130.5 1.7

1943 ............ 39,300 274 123.9 1.9

1944 ............. 42,600 358 161.1 2.5

1945 ............. 68,300 518 242.0 3.8

1946 ............ 96,600 821 369.3 7.0

Sources: Employment and number of planes—FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, 1961 ed.

(Federal Aviation Agency). Revenue plane-miles and revenue passenger-miles—

Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook of Airline Statistics, 1961 ed.

From 1946 to 1949, employment in the scheduled airlines declined by 14 percent, because 

anticipated increases in traffic failed to materialize. Also, a series of accidents involving new 

types of airplanes led to the temporary grounding of these planes.12 Employment rose in 1950, as 

passenger traffic increased, as shown in the following tabulation:

Revenue passengerEmployment miles (billions)

1947 ............... 85,200 7.9

1948 ............... 84,600 7.9

1949 \ ............ 83,000 8.8

1950 \ ............ 85,900 10.2

*Data include all-cargo, intra-Alaska and intra-Hawaii 

air carriers.

Sources: Revenue passenger-miles—Civil Aeronautics Board

Handbook o f Airline Statistics. Employment—BLS 

estimates based on data appearing in FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., and Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, op. cit.

During the 1946-50 period, the establishment of local service lines provided employment for 

a few thousand scheduled airline workers. These lines fly short routes, between small cities 

where trunk line service is not available, and between these cities and the main terminals.

12 1947 Annual Report to Stockholders (American Airlines, New York, N.Y.), pp. 4 and 50; and 1947 

Annual Report to Stockholders (United Airlines, Chicago, 111.), pp. 1, 5, and 10.

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Although employment data for general aviation are not available for the years from 1946-50, 

there is substantial evidence of employment growth. Several all-cargo airlines (since 1949, part 

of the scheduled airlines), were established, mainly as a result of the wartime success of the 

airplane as a mover of cargo. Between 1946 and 1950, the estimated number of miles flown in 

business and commercial flying activities increased by 180 percent and 67 percent, respectively.* 145 

Also, indications are that employment in "irregular" airlines (those that carry passengers and 

cargo on a nonscheduled basis) increased rapidly in the immediate postwar period. Most nonscheduled operators had just a few small airplanes but there were some who had fleets of large 

war-surplus planes. These major operators were responsible for most of the employment increase 

among irregular carriers. Although the total number of irregular carriers dropped from about 

3,600 in late 1945, to about 1,500 in 1947,14available information suggests that employment did 

not decline and may even have increased.

The 1950's were a decade of further expansion and technological development for the 

scheduled airlines. Employment almost doubled, as the airlines became the Nation's number one 

intercity common carrier of passengers. Major reasons for the increase in airline passenger traffic include the introduction of new routes, and the introduction and rapid growth of coach and 

economy service.15 Passenger helicopter service was established around New York City, Chicago, 

and Los Angeles. In 1958, the introduction of large turbojet planes on the longer domestic and 

international routes inaugurated the jet age which revolutionized air transportation. Air cargo 

ton-miles flown by the domestic airlines more than doubled, from about 152 million cargo ton-miles 

in 1950 to 385 million in i960.

Available evidence indicates that employment in certificated supplemental airlines and in 

general aviation also increased during the 1950's. The number of revenue passenger-miles flown 

by the certificated supplemental airlines increased by about 50 percent.16 In general aviation, the 

estimated number of miles flown increased by about 55 percent; the greatest growth was in business flying, which more than doubled over the decade and, by I960, accounted for almost half of 

all general aviation flying (table 2).

Employment in the Federal Government's regulatory activities, mainly in the FAA, also increased between 1950 and I960 (table 3). All of this growth occurred during the second half of 

the decade, largely because of increased civil air traffic and the use of complex new equipment 

to control such traffic.

l ^^The number of business miles flown increased from 121.5 million miles in 1946 to 339.7 million in 1950.

The number of commercial flying miles increased from 107.9 million to 180.5 million in 3 years. FAA Statistical

Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., p. 56.

14CAA Statistical Handbook o f Civil Aviation (Civil Aeronautics Administration), 1948 ed., pp. 37 and 38.

^Route mileage flown by the airlines increased by about 26 percent between 1950 and I960. Domestic coach 

and economy class traffic, introduced in 1948, grew from 1.7 billion revenue passenger miles in 1950 to 14.4 billion 

in I960, while first class revenue passenger miles increased from about 9 billion to 18 billion.

l6 The certificated supplemental airlines, which evolved from the irregular, nonscheduled airlines established 

immediately after World War II, were authorized by the Civil Aeronautics Board to provide not more than 10 round 

trip flights per month between any two points and to engage in unlimited charter service. See New York Times, 

**Non-skeds* Have Grown Up,** Feb. 15, 1959, p. 23; Walter Adams, The Structure o f American Industry, 3d ed. 

(New York, Macmillian Co., 1961), chap. XIII, pp. 468-508; and "Probes to Shape Status of Supplemental,M Aviation Week and Space Technology, Nov. 20, 1961, pp. 37-38.

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Table 2. Estimated miles flown in general aviation, by segment, 1950-60

Miles flown (in thousandi0

Y ear

Total

Business * Commercial* * Instructional,

personal, and other*

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

1950 . . . 1,061,500 339,700 32 180,500 17 541,300 51

1951 . . . 975,480 379,845 39 190,480 20 405,155 42

1952 . . . 972,055 419,705 43 217,865 22 334,485 34

1953 . . . 1,045,346 499,166 48 209,937 20 336,243 32

1954 . . . 1,119,295 552,610 49 226,240 20 340,445 30

1955 . . . 1, 216,000 627,800 52 245,700 20 342,500 28

1956 . . . 1,315,000 672,000 51 247,000 19 396,000 30

1957 . . . 1,426,285 720,800 51 249,400 17 546,085 32

1958 . . . 1,544,000 787,000 51 278,000 18 479,000 31

1959 . . . 1,596,000 798,000 50 279,000 17 519,000 33

I960 . . . 1,645,000 811,000 49 281,000 17 553,000 34

For definitions, see glossary.

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.

Source: FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, op. cit., p, 56.

Table 3. CAA/FAA* and CAB employment, 1950-60

(As of December 31)

Year Total CAA/FAA CAB

1950 ............... 18,200 17,600 600

1 9 5 1 ................ 18,400 17,800 600

1952 ............... 17,300 16,800 600

1953 ............... 16,100 15,600 500

1954 ................ 15,500 15,000 500

1955 ............... 16,400 15,900 600

1956 ................ 18,900 18,300 600

1957 ............... 23,900 23,200 700

1958 ............... 30,200 29,500 700

1959 ................ 34,800 34,100 700

I9 6 0 ................ 40,500 39,700 800

1

In 1959, the CAA was succeeded by the FAA.

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may

not equal totals.

Source: Unpublished U.S. Civil Service Commission data.

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Current Structure

By I960, civil aviation had evolved into a major component of the U.S. transportation system, employing an estimated 280,500 workers. The U.S. certificated and foreign flag airlines employed 63 percent (176,000)17 of these workers and accounted for about a third of all takeoffs and 

landings from airports with FAA-operated control towers, although they operated only about 3 percent of all aircraft (table 4). General aviation, which accounted for the operation of the great majority of all aircraft and for most takeoffs and landings and hours flown, employed an estimated 

64,000 (23 percent) civil aviation workers. The Federal Government employed 40,500 civil aviation 

workers (14 percent).

Table 4. Civil aviation activity, selected measures, I960

Division

Total

employment Aircraft

Arrivals at and

departures from airports

with FAA-operated

control towers

(in thousands)

Hours‘flown

(in thousands)

All d ivisions......................... 280,500 1 78,537 21,990 1)2 16,403

U.S. certificated and foreignflag airlines ........................ 176,000 '2,030 7,164 ^ . o s s

General aviation....................... 64,000 76,400 14,826 12,200

FAA and C A B ............................ 40,500 107 (3 ) 115

^Does not include foreign-flag airlines.

2Does not include supplemental or foreign-flag airlines. 

^Not available.

Sources: Aircraft, operations, and hours flown for U.S. certificated airlines, and

general aviation—FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, op. cit; for FAA

and CAB—unpublished FAA and CAB data. Employment in U.S. certificated and foreign-flag airlines, and general aviation—BLS estimates; in

FAA and CAB—see source for table 3.

Certificated airline employment data in this report are those published by the FAA for the certificated 

route and supplemental air carriers. They are not significantly different from employment data published monthly by BLS 

for Air Transportation, Certificated and Noncertificated Carriers (Standard Industrial Classification 451 and 452) 

in Employment and Earnings. For example, in I960, BLS data for the industries included in these codes, averaged 

nearly 172,000 compared with an FAA employment figure of nearly 168,000.

Differences between FAA employment data used in this study and BLS employment data covering SIC 451 

and 452 are attributable to the latter’s exclusion of U.S. citizens employed overseas by U.S. international airlines 

and inclusion of for-hire operators. (See glossary.) FAA airline employment data exclude U.S. citizens employed 

in the U.S. by foreign-flag airlines (estimated in this report at about 6,400). FAA data were used because they 

provided information on occupational employment.

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Three groups of airlines in I960 were engaged in the transportation of passengers and cargo. 

The largest group, by far, was the U.S. certificated route air carriers (scheduled airlines) which 

flew 95 percent of the revenue passenger-miles and 85 percent of the freight and express (cargo) 

revenue ton-miles flown by the airlines. These carriers employed 95 percent of total airline employment (table 5).

Table 5. Certificated and foreign-flag airline activity, selected measures, I960

Type of airline Total

employment Operators Aircraft

Scheduled

revenue

passenger-miles

(in billions)

Scheduled freight

and express

ton-miles

(in billions)

All a irlin e s................ 176,000 166 12,030 M l,071 1 823

Scheduled airlines .... 167,300 53 1,867 38,863 703

Domestic . ...................... 134,600 37 1,626 30,557 385

International.................. 30,100 10 182 8,306 194

A ll-cargo......................... 2,600 6 59 - 12 4

Supplemental airlines . . 2,300 33 163 2,208 120

Foreign-flag air carriers 6,400 80 (3 /) (3 /) (3 /)

h)oes not include foreign-flag air carriers. 

^Includes intra-Alaska and intra-Hawaii airlines. 

^Not available.

Sources: Employment in scheduled airlines and supplemental airlines—FAA

Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., and Civil Aeronautics

Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, op. cit.; foreign-flag1 air 

carriers—BLS estimates. Operators, scheduled revenue passengermiles, and scheduled freight and express ton-miles-CAB Handbook

o f Airline Statistics, op. cit.,Aircraft~FAA Statistical Handbook o f

Aviation, op. cit.

The 53 scheduled airline companies accounted for the movement of nearly 58 million passengers in I960. The transportation of these passengers accounted for about 83 percent of the 

revenues collected.18 * Most of the people working for the scheduled airlines were employed in jobs 

related to the transportation of passengers.

The 37 domestic airlines employed about 80 percent of total scheduled airline employment 

and accounted for about the same proportion of their revenue passenger-miles.1^ The U.S.-flag 

international airlines accounted for about 21 percent of scheduled airline passenger traffic, about 

28 percent of cargo traffic, and 18 percent of scheduled airline employment. The all-cargo lines, 

which flew 18 percent of cargo-ton miles, had less than 2 percent of the scheduled airline 

employment.

The four largest domestic trunklines (United Air Lines, American Airlines, Trans World Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines) employed about one-half of all scheduled airline workers in I960.

18Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, op. cit., p. IV-1.

^Domestic airline data reflect all operations of trunk, local service, helicopter, and intra-Alaska and Hawaii 

carriers, including the small amount of international operations handled by some of these carriers.

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About 80 percent of U.S.-flag international airline employees worked for the largest international 

carrier (Pan American World Airways).

Almost all airline employees were in establishments with 100 workers or more and over 60 

percent worked in establishments with 1,000 workers or more.20 Although comparable data for 

general aviation are not available, indications are that employment in general aviation is much 

less concentrated than in the airlines.

Detailed geographical employment data for civil aviation are not available, but those States 

with relatively large numbers of civil aviation workers can be identified on the basis of indirect 

evidence. The geographical distribution of employment in Air transportation, Certificated and 

Noncertificated Carriers (SIC Groups 451 and 452), indicate that more than half of all airline 

workers were employed in five States— New York, California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas (table 

6). Data on aircraft registrations and airports imply that these States were also leading employers of other civil aviation workers.

These States have relatively large numbers of civil aviation workers for various reasons. 

They may be the site of a scheduled airline major overhaul base, training center, or headquarters, 

or originate a large amount of airline traffic. For instance, Texas, in addition to having a large 

population and geographical area, is the location of three airlines’ main aircraft overhaul bases 

and the location where one major airline conducts its training for stewardesses. New York and 

California originate large amounts of international and domestic passenger traffic.

.Table 6. Employment in air transportation, certificated and noncertificated carriers,

mid-March 1959, and number of civil and military airports and airfields and

active civil aircraft, 11 States and the United States, I960.

State

1959 (mid-March) I960

Total

employment Percent

Civil and military

..... airports and

airfields

Percent Active civil

aircraft Percent

United States, total. 155,800 100.0 6,880 100.0 78,600 100.0

New Y o rk ................... 28,200 18.1 245 3.6 3,700 4.7

California................... 24,400 15.7 400 5.8 10,000 12.7

Florida......................... 16,900 10.8 150 2.2 2,700 3.4

Illinois......................... 11,800 7.6 270 3.9 4,100 5.2

Texas ......................... 8,000 5.1 545 7.9 6,900 8.8

Missouri...................... 7,500 4.8 160 2.3 1,900 2.4

V irginia...................... 6,700 4.3 90 1.3 900 1.1

Oklahoma................... 4,700 3.0 130 1.9 1,700 2.2

G eo rg ia...................... 4,600 3.0 110 1.6 1,200 1.5

Minnesota ................... 3,500 2.2 215 3.1 2,200 2.8

Massachusetts .... 3,300 2.1 75 1.1 1,000 1.3

Source: Employment—U.S. Bureau of the Census and U.S. Bureau of Old-Age and

Survivors Insurance, cooperative report, County Business Patterns, First

Quarter, 1959, table 2, pts. 1-10. Airports, airfields, and aircraft—FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, op. cit.

20Employment and Wages (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Security), First Quarter, 1961, 

table B -l, p. 105. (An establishment is defined as a single physical location at which one, or predominately one, 

type of economic activity is carried on.)

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General aviation accounted for the largest share of many significant measures of civil aviation activity such as hours flown, and the number of aircraft (table 7). In spite of the importance 

of general aviation, employment statistics for this civil aviation division are fragmentary. Consequently, the employment estimates for general aviation are based on limited information and resulted in the inclusion of an unknown number of part-time workers.

General aviation includes a variety of flying activities, divided into five segments—business 

flying; commercial flying; instructional flying; pleasure flying; and test, ferry, and other flying.

In addition, general aviation includes independent certificated repair stations. Although some 

operators engage in more than one of these activities, such operators were classified, for purposes of this study, according to their primary activity. Business flying was the most important 

segment of general aviation in I960; it accounted for about two-fifths of general aviation aircraft, and hours flown.

Independent certificated repair stations, which are certificated by the FAA to maintain and 

repair specified aircraft components and equipment, were the largest employer of general aviation 

workers.21 As of July 1, 1961, approximately 26,000 workers were employed in 773 stations.

Business flying activities—the operation and maintenance of company-owned aircraft—accounted for an estimated 16,000 workers. Nearly 40 percent of general aviation aircraft were 

flown by business firms, making this the,second largest use of general aviation aircraft. Only 

pleasure flying by private owners accounted for the use of more aircraft.

About 1 of every 5 general aviation workers (14,000) was employed in commercial flying 

activities in 1960, the third largest field of general aviation employment. A little more than half 

of these workers were employed by for-hire operators (air taxi operators and others who provide 

charter services). Although these operations accounted for most commercial flying employment, 

only about one-third of commercial flying aircraft were used in for-hire operations. Nearly half 

of commercial flying aircraft were used for crop-dusting and other agricultural services, even 

through these services account for only about 30 percent of commercial flying employment. The 

following tabulation presents selected measures of commercial flying, by type of activity, in I960:

Activity Employment Percent Aircraft Percent

All commercial fly in g ................... 14,000 100.0 10,300 100.0

For-hire operations............................ 7,600 54.3 3,200 31.1

Crop-dusting........................................ 4,100 29.3 5,100 49.5

Patrol and survey flying................... 2,300 16.4 2,000 19.4

2iIn addition to the independent certificated repair stations, there are certificated repair stations operated by the 

airlines and the FAA. Twenty scheduled airlines operate certificated repair stations which do maintenance and repair 

work on general aviation aircraft and some transport aircraft used by the military. However, because it is impossible 

to separate employment of those who work on airline aircraft from those who work on other aircraft, all scheduled airline certificated repair station employment is included with scheduled airline employment.

The FAA operated three certificated repair stations to maintain and repair its own aircraft. Employment in 

these establishments is included with FAA employment. For a complete list of certificated repair stations, see Co«- 

solidated Listing o f FAA C ertificated Repair Stations, (FAA), July 1, 1961.

There are repair stations that are not certificated by the FAA. Although data on noncertificated stations are 

not available, available evidence indicates that they are not as important as the certificated ones in terms of numbers 

and employment.

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Table 7. General aviation activity, selected measures, I960

Segment Employment Percent Hours flown

(in millions) Percent Miles flown(in billions) Percent Number ofaircraft Percent

Total general av iatio n ................... 64,000 100.0 12.2 100.0 1,645.0 100.0 76,350 100.0

Business fly in g ........................................ 16,000 25.0 5.3 43.4 811.0 49.3 29,000 38.0

Commercial flying..................................... 14,000 21.9 2.2 18.0 281.0 17.1 10,300 13.5

Instructional fly in g .................................. 7,000 10.9 1.7 13.9 184.0 11.2 6,000 7.9

Pleasure flying........................................... _ _ _ _ 3.0 24.6 362.0 22.0 30,350 39.8

Test, ferry, and other fly in g ................

Independent certificated

1,000 1.6 ( 1) (1) 7.0 .4 700 .9

repair stations 2 ......................... 26,000 40.6

'

*Less than 0.1 percent. 

^As of July 1, 1961.

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.

Source: Employment—BLS estimates. Hours flown and miles flown—FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation, op. cit.

Number of aircraft—see appendix table A-l.

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The FAA and the CAB employed about 40,500 workers in 1960 to regulate and assist civil 

aviation. Nearly all (39,700) were employed by the FAA (table 3). About three-fourths of FAA 

workers were employed in two divisions—Air Traffic Service and Aviation Facilities Service. 

About 17,500 workers were employed by the Air Traffic Service division to direct air traffic, and 

to provide weather information and in-flight following service. More than 14,000 workers were 

employed by the Aviation Facilities Service to install and maintain radar, ultrahigh frequency 

radio, and the thousands of electronic and visual devices that comprise the Nation’s system of 

air traffic control and aerial navigation. In addition FAA employees do a variety of other types of 

work such as administering license examinations for pilots and other airmen, and promoting flight 

safety by inspecting maintenance procedures and equipment.

Nearly three-fourths of CAB employees work in administrative or clerical occupations involving the economic regulation of the airlines, supervision of international air transportation, 

promotion of aviation safety, and investigation of accidents.

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Chapter II. Occupational Structure and Trends

The occupational'structure of each of the three major divisions of civil aviation differs significantly, reflecting their different activities. For example, pilots and copilots comprise about 

half of the workers in general aviation, but only 8 percent of scheduled airline employment and 

less thanl percent of FAA and CAB employment. The discussion of occupational patterns that follow are presented separately for each division mainly because of differences in occupational composition, but also because of the lack of comprehensive, comparable occupational data for the 

three civil aviation divisions. Because historical occupational employment data are not available for general aviation and other segments of civil aviation, the discussion of occupational 

trends is limited to the scheduled airlines and the FAA and CAB.

Airlines

The discussion of airline occupational patterns relates mainly to the scheduled airlines because detailed occupational employment information is available only for these airlines (table 8). 

Sparse occupational data are available for the supplemental airlines, and almost no occupational 

data are available for foreign-flag airlines operating in the United States.

Scheduled A irlines.

Comparable employment information for the entire 1947-60 period is available only for 4 of 

8 occupational categories: maintenance workers, pilots and copilots, flight attendants, and other 

flight personnel.22 For the other 4 categories (aircraft and traffic servicing workers, office 

workers, communications workers, and "other workers” ), occupational data for the 1957-60 period 

are not comparable with occupational employment information available for 1947-56, inclusive.

In addition to the absence of consistent data for some occupational categories for the 1947- 

60 period, there are two other factors that restrict the analysis of occupational trends. Comparability of employment statistics for individual occupations within particular occupational categories 2 3 is limited because of the reclassification of workers by some airlines in I960. For example, one major airline reclassified some of their workers from one occupation to another occupation within the aircraft and traffic servicing worker category. Consequently, employment data 

for individual occupations within this group for I960 are not comparable with earlier years. However, I960 employment data for the category as a whole are comparable with 1957, 1958, and 1959 

data. The other factor restricting analysis is the large number of occupations within some categories. This factor makes it difficult to determine the effect and relative importance of the variables influencing employment for these categories. For example, within the "other worker” 

occupational category, a variable may, in different degrees, adversely affect certain occupations 

but favorably affect other occupations. For this reason, a comprehensive analysis of the factors 

influencing employment in this category is not attempted. In spite of these limitations,approximate employment levels can be determined and trends can be traced for broad occupational categories.

22Employment information for the scheduled airlines is collected by the CAB on Schedule P-10, Form 41, 

"Payroll Analysis,"for 31 functions,such as maintenance labor,and passenger service,and summarized into 8 occupational categories by the FAA. These data are published annually by the FAA in the FAA Statistical Handbook o f

Aviation. The 8 occupational categories form the basis for the analysis of occupational patterns for the scheduled airlines.

23a list of the occupations included in each of the 31 functions for which the CAB collects data is available in 

Item LislG uide to Uniform System o f Accounts and Reports, (CAB, Effective January 1, 1957), pp. 26.1-26.9.

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Table 8. Scheduled airline employment, by occupational groupjl947-60

Year

Total

employment

Aircraft and

traffic

servicing

workers

Office

workers

Maintenance

workers 1

Flight

attendants

Pilots

and

copilots

Other

flight

personnel

Communications

workers

Other

workers

1947 85,200 (2) (2) 21,100 4,100 6,600 1,300 (2) 52,000

1948 84,600 (2) (2) 21,800 4,100 6,900 1,500 (2) 50,200

1949 83,000 (2) (2) 20,100 4,400 7,200 1,700 (2) 49,700

1950 85,900 (2) (2) 20,500 4,500 7,800 1,700 (2) 51,500

1951 100,500 (2) (2) 24,700 5,400 9,100 2,000 ( 2) 59,200

1952 108,800 (2) (2) 27,400 6,000 9,500 2,100 (2) 63,800

1953 114,500 (2) (2) 27,400 6,200 10,200 2,500 (2) 68,100

1954 113,100 ( 2) (2) 26,100 6,500 10,000 2,700 (2) 67,700

1955 126,900 (2) (2) 30,400 7,600 11,600 3,000 (2) 74,300

1956 138,100 ( 2) (2) 32,700 8,200 12,400 3,800 (2) 81,000

1957 153,700 37,600 32,800 32,900 9,600 14,300 4,200 4,100 218,200

1958 152,100 38,400 32,800 30,800 10,000 13,600 4,000 4,100 18,500

1959 165,500 44,100 34,700 32,800 10,800 14,600 4,200 4,400 19,900

1960 167,300 43,500 35,600 34,500 10,700 13,600 3,900 4,200 21,300

* Maintenance worker employment data prior to 1957 are not strictly comparable with later data because of a modification of the CAB 

schedule used to collect these data. Prior to 1957, the CAB required the airlines to report employment for "m echanics.” In the schedules 

used in 1957 and later years, these workers were included with other maintenance workers—carpenters, electricians, and maintenance engineers—in a "maintenance labor" category. A comparison of 1956 "m echanic" employment with 1957 "maintenance worker" employment, 

indicates that airplane mechanics make up the great bulk of maintenance worker employment and that, therefore, data for the two periods are 

very nearly comparable. As a result, the entire 1947-60 employment series for maintenance workers is used in the text as an approximation 

of airplane mechanic employment.

^Prior to 1957, data for these occupational categories are not comparable with subsequent data because of changes in the reporting 

schedule.

Note: Because of rounding,sums of individual items may not equal totals.

Source: Based on FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., and Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, op. cit.,

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The remainder of this section dealing with the scheduled airlines will describe occupational 

composition and employment trends for the eight occupational categories established by the 

FAA,24 and the factors determining these trends.

In I960, aircraft and traffic servicing workers was the largest (43,500) of the eight occupational categories. About 21,000 of these workers did traffic servicing work, such as handling 

cargo or baggage. About 17,000 workers did aircraft servicing work such as parking, fueling, and 

routine inspecting of aircraft, or scheduling aircraft operating crews for assignments. Nearly

4.000 employees did both aircraft and traffic servicing work. About 1,000 other workers, whose 

main job was aircraft and traffic servicing, did other work, such as office work. Employment in 

aircraft and traffic servicing has varied with the number of passengers and amount of cargo carried 

by the airlines.25 As a result of increases in these variables, employment of aircraft and traffic 

servicing workers rose by 16 percent between 1957 and I960.

More traffic servicing workers were needed to meet increases in the number of passengers 

and amount of baggage26 and cargo handled. More aircraft servicing workers were needed because of the increase in miles flown by the airlines, and additions to the scheduled airline 

fleet. Larger aircraft servicing crews were necessary to minimize the amount of nonproductive 

time that expensive jet airplanes would spend on the ground.

Office workers were the second largest occupational category. About 19,000 of the 35,600 

office workers wrote tickets, made space reservations, or did promotion sales work. Nearly 

13,500 others kept records or did routine statistical work in connection with ticket sales. About

1.000 were general management personnel. The remaining 2,100 workers were lawyers, law clerks, 

traffic solicitors, or purchasing personnel.

Since most office workers are employed in occupations closely associated with ticketing 

passengers, the number of passengers transported is an important determinant of employment in 

this category. However, because of more efficient ticketing procedures and the use of automatic 

reservations equipment, office worker employment did not increase as rapidly as passenger 

traffic.27 Between 1957 and I960, office worker employment increased 8 percent, mainly because 

of the sizable (24 percent) increase in the number of revenue passengers carried by the scheduled 

airlines. To accomodate these additional passengers, the airlines built many new ticket offices 

in cities they serve and consequently hired many new office workers.

2^See footnote 22, p. 17.

25Between 1957 and I 960, the number of revenue passenger originations increased by 17 percent, Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, op. cit., p. 11-43; cargo ton-miles (the sum of freight and express 

ton-miles) increased by 22 percent, Ibid., p. 11-24; FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., pp. 91 

and 105.

26The 5-percent increase in excess baggage revenue ton-miles flown by the scheduled airlines between 1957 

and I 960 indicates an overall increase in passenger baggage.

27The introduction of these systems was generally accomplished without any major layoffs. A 1958 Bureau of 

Labor Statistics study (A C ase Study o f an Automatic Airline Reservations System, Studies o f Automatic Technology)

(BLS Report 137, 1959) found that the installation of an automatic reservations system by one of the Nation’s 

largest domestic scheduled airlines had little effect on the employment of ticket and reservations personnel. The 

report stated that "....n o specific individual job was eliminated. Actually, additional employees were hired as the 

functions of the office not affected by the automatic reservisor [preservation system^] expanded rapidly with greater 

passenger traffic. Total employment in the airline’s reservations office increased by 79 percent from June 1952 to 

June 1956—from 295 to 529*” (Page 11.) Four airlines employing more than half of the domestic scheduled airlines’ reservations personnel were already using some type of automatic reservations system in 1957. By I960, 

the use of these automatic systems had become more widespread.

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Nearly all of the 34,500 workers in the maintenance worker category were airplane mechanics; 

the others included carpenters and electricians. Between 1947 and I960, employment in the 

maintenance worker category grew by nearly two-thirds, with practically all of the expansion occuring between 1947 and 19561 The main reason for this substantial rise was the large (79 percent) increase in the number of planes operated by the scheduled airlines. Between 1957 and 

I960, the size of the airline fleet grew slowly relative to traffic increases because of the addition of significant numbers of large jet aircraft that could do many times more work than a similar number of piston planes. Although the jet airplanes introduced in the late 1950’s had complex electrical, hydraulic, and cooling systems which required fairly frequent maintenance and 

repair, the relative ease with which jet engines could be maintained and repaired offset the increased maintenance requirements of the other parts of the plane.

The ratio of mechanics (maintenance workers) to scheduled airline aircraft remained fairly 

constant between 1947 and I960. It varied by an average of 1.3 from the average (mean) of 18.9 

mechanics per airplane (table 9)* The ratio rose to peak levels in 1947^ and 1948 when airlines 

employed additional mechanics to perform maintenance on newly introduced aircraft with which 

they were having mechanical problems. The ratio was also high in 1951 and 1952 when the airlines operated additional older airplanes because of additional demand for air transportation 

during the Korean hostilities. In those years, the domestic scheduled airlines operated at a 

higher passenger load factor (percent of capacity) than at any time since World War II. In 1951, 

the airlines had to use more DC-3*s, whereas they had been replacing these older aircraft in the 

4 previous years.

Between 1947 and I960, employment of pilots and copilots, the largest of the flight occupational categories, more than doubled. Throughout this period, the ratio of the number of pilots 

and copilots to aircraft fluctuated within a fairly narrow range. Employment in this category was 

largely determined by the number of scheduled airline aircraft which, in turn, was responsive to 

passenger demand for air transportation. For example, between 1947 and 1956, the number of 

pilots and copilots, and the airline fleet, both increased by over 75 percent while passenger 

traffic increased even faster. Throughout the 1947-60 period, nearly all scheduled airline 

aircraft were each flown by one pilot and one copilot; the only exceptions were 25 helicopters, which require one pilot, and a small number of jet planes operated with a second copilot. The fairly steady ratio of pilots and copilots to aircraft since 1947 indicates that the 

additional demand for air transportation was accompanied by increasing size and speed of new 

airplanes, rather than employment of additional pilots and copilots to fly additional flights in 

existing types of airlines.

Flight attendant employment rose by about 160 percent between 1947 and 1960—almost 

double the growth rate for total scheduled airline employment. About 90 percent of the 10,700 

flight attendants employed by the scheduled airlines in I960 were stewardesses, and the others 

were either stewards or pursers.

The rapid growth of flight attendants, whose work largely involves in-flight passenger services, resulted mainly from the 390-percent increase between 1947 and I960 in the number of revenue passenger-miles flown by the scheduled airlines. The huge rise in the number of miles flown 

reflects a significant increase in the average passenger trip length (21 percent), and in the number of revenue passengers (300 percent) during this period. Flight attendant employment did not 

expand as rapidly as the number of revenue passenger-miles because increased aircraft speed and

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Table 9* Pilots and copilots and maintenance workers, per scheduled

airline aircraft, and '*other flight personnel* * per scheduled airline aircraft over 80,000 pounds, 1947-60

Year

Number of: Number per aircraft: Number of:

Other flight

personnel per *

aircraft over

80,000 lbs.

Scheduled

airline

aircraft1

Pilots

and

copiiots

Maintenance

workers 2

Pilots

and

copilots

Maintenance

workers

Aircraft

weighing over

80,0001bs.l

Other

flight

personnel

1947.............. 964 6,600 21,100 6,8 21.9 155 1,300 8.4

1948.............. 1,053 6,900 21,800 6.6 20.7 187 1,500 8.0

1949.............. 1,129 7,200 20,100 6.4 17.8 275 1,700 6.2

1950.............. 1,203 7,800 20,500 6.5 17.0 324 1,700 5.2

1951.............. 1,232 9,100 24,700 7.4 20.0 365 2,000 5.5

1952.............. 1,342 9,500 24,400 7.1 20.4 430 2,100 4.9

1953.............. 1,421 10,200 27,400 7.2 19*3 484 2,500 5.2

1954.............. 1,446 10,000 26,100 6.9 18.0 568 2,700 4.8

1955.............. 1,480 11,600 30,400 7.8 20.5 612 3,000 4.9

1956.............. 1,723 12,400 32,700 7.2 19.0 741 3,800 5.1

1957.............. 1,835 14,300 32,900 7.8 17.9 912 4,200 4.6

1 9 5 8 . . . . . . . 1,895 13,600 30,800 7.2 16.3 969 4,000 4.1

1959.............. 1,850 14,600 32,800 7.9 17.7 1,048 4,200 4.0

I 960.............. 1,867 13,600 34,500 7.3 18.5 1,107 3,900 3.5

^Beginning in 1950, the number of aircraft includes those used by intra-Alaska carriers. 2

Employment data for 1957*60 include a small number of nonmechanics. (See footnote 1, table 8.)

Sources: Employment*~See table 8. Aircraft—FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., and Civil Aeronautics

Administration Handbook o f Civil Aviation, 1948 and 1958 editions.

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seating capacity, and the rapid growth of coach and economy air transportation after 1951,2 8 

which offered fewer in-flight services and higher seating density than first-class air transportation,29 permitted flight attendants to service nearly twice as many revenue passenger-miles in 

I960 as in 1947 (table 10).

Table 10. Scheduled airline revenue passenger-miles 

per flight attendant, 1947-60

Year Number of

flight attendants

Revenue passengermiles (billions)

Revenue passengermiles per flight

attendant (millions)

1947.......................... 4,100 7,920 1.9

1948.......................... 4,100 7,890 1.0

1949......................... 4,400 8,827 2.0

1950.......................... 4,500 10,243 2.3

1951......................... 5,400 13,204 2.4

1952.......................... 6,000 15,624 2.6

1953......................... 6,200 18,245 2.9

1954......................... 6,500 20,613 3.2

1955......................... 7,600 24,351 3.2

1956......................... 8,200 27,625 3.4

1957......................... 9,600 31,261 3.3

1958......................... 10,000 31,499 3.1

1959....................... 10,800 36,372 3.4

I960......................... 10,700 38,863 3.6

Source: Employment—see table 8. Revenue passenger-miles— CAB Handbook o f

Airline Statistics, op. cit.

In I960, about 3,500 of the 3,900 other flight personnel were flight engineers and the remainder were navigators. Between 1947 and I960, total employment in the category tripled, 

mainly because of a 1948 CAB regulation requiring flight engineers to be aboard all aircraft with 

a gross takeoff weight of more than 80,000 pounds (table 9). The number of flight engineers increased as heavier aircraft, such as the DC-6 and DC-7, replaced planes weighing less than

80,000 pounds, such as the DC-3 and DC-4. Between 1957 and I960, flight engineer employment 

declined slightly. The decline was due to the reduction of the U.S. international airline fleet resulting from the substitution of many large, fast jet aircraft. On the domestic airlines, the number of flight engineers remained the same because the fleet size changed only slightly.

^Average airplane speed increased by more than 30 percent between 1949 and I960, while seating capacity increased from 35 to 69* Coach and economy class air transportation increased from 13 percent of all revenue passenger-miles in 1951 to more than 50 percent in I 960.

290ne domestic trunk airline operates Boeing 707 airplanes with seats for 96 first-class passengers. This airline also operates 707*s with seating capacity for 146 coach passengers.

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The effect of the transition to jets on the airline fleet was very apparent in the size of the 

U.S.-flag internatipnal airline fleet. The international fleet declined from 170 airplanes in 

1957 (the last year before jet planes were introduced in international routes) to 156 in I960, despite a 41-percent increase in revenue passenger-miles. Je t aircraft are able to fly about twice 

as many passengers as the largest piston aircraft, 60-percent faster, according to the CAB. It is 

estimated that a single, large jet aircraft, such as a DC-8 or 707, can do the work of 3~l/2

DC-7* s. 3 0

The characteristics of the jet planes put into service between 1958 and I960 make them 

particularly well suited to the long, nonstop routes typically operated by U.S.-flag international 

airlines. By I960, almost one-third of the U.S.-flag international airline fleet was composed of 

jets and these planes flew two-thirds of the international revenue passenger-miles.31 ln contrast, only 10 percent of the domestic fleet in I960 were jets and these planes flew about 40 percent of the revenue passenger-miles.

The ratio of " other flight personnel** to each aircraft over 80,000 pounds fluctuated between 

5.2 and 4.6 from 1950 to 1957. In 1948 and 1949, the ratio was high (8.0 and 6.2, respectively), 

mainly because the scheduled airlines employed large numbers of flight engineers for the first 

time and had to familiarize many of these people with new equipment. In 1958, 1959, and I960, 

the ratio of other flight personnel to aircraft was extremely low because the scheduled airlines 

were operating at exceptionally low weight load factors, due to the 1958 recession and the introduction of new, large jet planes.

Communications workers make up the smallest occupational category in the scheduled airline. Of the 4,200 communications workers in I960, about 3,000 were ground radio operators and 

teletypists. The category also includes workers in a variety of other occupations, such as telegraphers and typists. Communications employment increased only slightly between 1957 and 

I960, in spite of a tremendous rise in air traffic. Significant improvements in communications 

equipment and procedures greatly reduced the need for additional personnel. Improved equipment 

allowed communications for longer distances with only small increases in the employment of 

ground radio and teletype operators.

The miscellaneous occupational category designated as *'other workers" covers personnel 

in a wide range of occupations, including hotel, restaurant, and tood service workers, trainee 

and instructor, watchman, porter, and guard. The variety of occupations in this group and the 

lack of any detailed occupational employment data make it difficult to identify all the factors that 

caused employment in this group to rise by 17 percent—to 21,300—between 1957 and I960. Many 

different factors apparently were responsible. For example, increasing numbers of passengers required additional hotel, restaurant, and food service personnel. Also, the transition from piston 

engine planes to jet aircraft led to the employment of instructors to teach new flying and maintenance procedures to aircraft operating and servicing personnel.

3^General Characteristics of'Turbine-Powered Aircraft, Air Transport Economics in the Je t Age, (CAB Staff Research Report No. 2, February I960), pp. l l and 12.

31Statistics relating to revenue passenger-miles were obtained from CAB Handbook o f Airline Statistics, op. 

cit. Information on passenger and weight load factors, passenger and cargo traffic increases, passenger trip length, 

and average aircraft speed, used in the following paragraphs, were also obtained from this source.

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C ertificated Supplemental A irlines.

Employment in the supplemental airlines changed only slightly between 1957 and I96032 * (table 

11). The number of revenue passenger-miles flown by the supplemental airlines nearly tripled and 

cargo-ton miles increased by 38 percent, but the number of planes increased by only 3 percent.

Of the 2,300 workers employed by the 33 supplemental airlines in I960, 1,500 were reported 

in flight occupations with the remainder in nonflight occupations.35 An estimated two-thirds of 

those employed in flight occupations were pilots or copilots; the remainder were nearly evenly 

distributed between two occupational categories—flight attendant and other flight personnel (flight 

engineers and navigators). Most of the workers in the latter category were flight engineers. Of 

the 800 employees working in nonflight occupations, most were airplane mechanics, and the remainder worked in a variety of jobs ranging from manager of an airline to loader of baggage and 

cargo aboard airplanes.

Employment estimates for pilots, copilots, and flight attendants were developed as follows: 

A ratio of pilots and copilots to aircraft was constructed, based largely on the ratio as it existed 

in the scheduled airlines, which operate many of the same type of airplanes. Flight engineer and 

navigator employment was estimated by using the scheduled airline ratio of such personnel to 

airplanes over 80,Q00 pounds. Navigators, required only on over-water flights, make up a small 

proportion of-other flight personnel. The remaining flight employees were assumed to be flight 

attendants. This assumption implies that a flight attendant on the supplemental airlines flies 

approximately twice as many revenue passenger-miles as does one on the scheduled airlines.

Thi s appears reasonable because the supplemental airlines provide fewer in-flight services than 

the scheduled airlines and on some supplemental airline flights, no flight attendant is aboard.

Table 11. Supplemental airline activity, selected measures, 1957-60

Year Employment Aircraft Revenue passengermiles (billions)

Cargo-ton miles

(millions)

1957............................ 2,400 158 767 87

1958........................... 2,500 186 1,153 89

1959............................ 2,600 152 1,630 85

I960............................ 2,300 163 2,208 120

Source: Employment and cargo-ton miles—Civil Aeronautics Board Handbook o f Airline Statistics, 

op. cit. Aircraft, revenue passenger-miles—unpublished FAA data.

32The supplemental airlines filed employment data with the CAB prior to 1957, but the Board has not compiled 

these data.

^Supplemental airline employment is reported only for two occupational classifications—flight and nonflight.

Employment data for these classifications were obtained from schedules filed with the CAB by the supplemental air

carriers and served as a basis on which to make more detailed occupational estimates.

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The estimate of airplane mechanics was based on the type of airplanes operated by the supplemental airlines. About half of the airplanes operated by these airlines are large D C^’s , DC-7*s and 

"Constellations,” similar to those operated by the scheduled airlines. The other half are DC-3’s, 

DC-4’s, and C-46,s —planes similar to those formerly operated by the scheduled airlines. Based 

on the number of mechanics employed to service these types of planes on the scheduled airlines, most supplemental airline ground personnel apparently are mechanics.

Foreign-Flag A irlines.

An estimated 6,400 U.S. citizens were employed by foreign-flag carriers in I960, mainly in managerial, sales, clerical, and maintenance position^. The employment estimate is based principally on information obtained from three major foreign airlines and their number of flights b etween the United States and Europe. The employment estimate assumes that these foreign-flag 

carriers have the same proportion of the employment of U.S. citizens as they have of flights between the United States and Europe. Although no information is available on the number of 

flights between the United States and non-European locations, they comprise a small proportion 

of international flights.

General Aviation

The occupational distribution for general aviation differs considerably from that of the 

scheduled airlines. General aviation aircraft typically are small and, in addition to carrying 

passengers, are used to perform services, not done by the airlines, such as crop dusting. Nearly 

all of the estimated 64,000 general aviation workers are employed as pilots, copilots, or airplane 

mechanics.54 Flight engineers, flight attendants, and aircraft and traffic servicing workers are 

rarely employed in general aviation activities because of the small size and limited seating capacity of airplanes ordinarily used.55

Employment for each general aviation segment was approximated by summing the estimates 

for occupations within each segment. The relationship between pilots, aircraft, and the aircraft 

utilization rate for crop dutsing,56 the only general aviation activity for which all three factors 

were known, served as a guide in establishing pilot and copilot employment ratios in the other 

general aviation segments. Estimates for other occupations were based largely on the number 

and type of aircraft used (i.e., single engine or multiengine), the nature of the activities within 

the segment, and interviews with general aviation operators.

54The estimates in this bulletin of the number of pilots and copilots employed outside the airlines are considerably higher than the number of "airplane pilots and navigators," shown in the U.S, Census o f Population:1960 Subject Reports: Occupation by Industry (U.S. Bureau of the Census) Final Report PC (2) - 7C, for industries outside of 

air transportation. The major reason for this difference is that the pilot and copilot employment estimates in this 

bulletin include part-time pilots and copilots, whereas the Census data do not. Another reason is that some aircraft 

owners who pilot their planes professionally are classified in the Census in the "managers, officials, proprietors" 

group rather than among "airplane pilots and navigators." In this report, such persons are classified as professional pilots. However, BLS employment estimates in this bulletin for pilots and copilots may be slightly overstated because they are based on the number of FAA aircraft registrations. In a recent study done by the Aircraft Owners and 

Pilots Association (General Aviation Aircraft Operations-1961, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation, 

Inc.,), it was found that a few thousand aircraft owners had scrapped, exported, or otherwise eliminated their aircraft 

but had failed to cancel their FAA registrations. Despite these difficulties, the pilot and copilot employment estimates 

in this bulletin are considered to be reasonable indicators of magnitude.

55In I960, about 90 percent of general aviation aircraft were single-engine planes and 43 percent of these had 

one, two, or three seats. FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op. cit., p. 35.

36i„ crop-dusting activities, aircraft were each utilized an average of 172 hours, in 1957. A ratio of 0.8 pilots 

for each aircraft existed in this activity.

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Independent certificated repair stations are the largest employer of general aviation workers. 

Of the 26,000 workers employed in I960 in establishments certificated by the FAA to perform 

various types of aircraft repair and maintenance operations, about 25,000 were mechanics and 

supervisors.57 These workers repaired and maintained the 46,000 aircraft classified in business, commercial, instructional, and test, ferry, and other flying; the 30,400 aircraft used for 

pleasure flying; and the many transport aircraft used by the military.

More than 90 percent (15,000) of the 16,000 workers employed in business flying in I960 

were pilots or copilots. This estimate is based on the size and composition of the business flying fleet in I960 (table A-2), the number of corporate owned planes flown by professional pilots 

(table 12),5 8 and the average aircraft utilization in 1957. Few airplane mechanics are believed 

to be employed in business flying, because the small size of the typical business flying fleet 

makes it more efficient generally for maintenance work to be handled by specialized repair 

stations.39 More than three-quarters of all business flying aircraft in I960 were single-engine 

planes,40 which are simpler to operate than multiengine aircraft and helicopters. They are flown 

less than half the number of hours in the course of a year as are other types of aircraft,41 either because their operators prefer not to fly in marginal weather or these operators require only limited 

use of their aircraft. Because of this low utilization rate, it is assumed that few are flown by 

professional pilots. Based on these factors, and on information obtained from field contacts, an 

average cf less than one professional pilot is employed for each single-engine business aircraft. 

On the other hand, for multiengine planes, some of which are operated by a copilot, between one 

and two professional pilots and copilots are needed and for each helicopter, one pilot is needed. 

Evidence indicates that, on the average, less than one worker in a nonflying occupation (including employees such as mechanics and refuelers) was employed for each multiengine plane and 

helicopter. This estimate is based on the planes’ high utilization rates, and their consequent 

high maintenance requirements. Employment of ground personnel in I960 was about 1,300.

More than 70 percent of the 14,000 workers engaged in commercial flying activities, were 

estimated to be pilots or copilots. Virtually all of the workers in crop-dusting, and patrol and 

survey flying, were pilots. Employment in for-hire operations was about equally distributed between pilots and copilots, and ground personnel.

Crop-dusting is the largest commercial flying activity, on the basis of the number of 

aircraft operated. In I960, about half of all commercial flying aircraft, and nearly one-third

37The employment estimate for mechanics and supervisory workers is based largely on FAA unpublished 

records. No data are available on other employment in independent certificated repair establishments, but clerical 

workers are believed to account for the bulk of remaining employment in these establishments. An indication of the 

magnitude of clerical worker employment was obtained by assuming that these workers were the same proportion of 

total certificated repair establishment employment as clerical and kindred workers were of miscellaneous repair service employment in I960. 1960 Census o f Population, "Supplementary Reports," PC(Sl)-27 (U.S. Department of 

Commerce, Bureau of the Census), Nov. 21, 1962, table 209, pp. 7 and 8.

38A11 operation of individually owned aircraft used in business flying is assumed to be by individuals on their 

own business. In this report, such individuals are not classified as professional pilots.

3^The National Business Aircraft Association reported that the average business aircraft fleet consists of 1.9 

aircraft. Special Report No. 63-1, Business Flying (National Business Aircraft Association, Inc.), Washington, D. C.? 

February 1963, p. 2.

40a detailed description of the procedures used to estimate the composition of the various fleets appears in appendix A.

41In 1957, on the average, one and two place single-engine planes were flown 154 hours a year, while large 

single-engine planes were flown 198 hours a year. Multiengine planes averaged between 316 and 451 hours of utilization with the larger multiengine planes being operated more than the smaller ones. Helicopters were utilized an average of 400 hours a year.

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(about 4,100—all pilots)42 * of all commercial flying workers were employed in this activity. A 

very small number of additional workers are employed in ground occupations.

For-hire operators employed the largest number of commercial aviation workers and flew the 

second largest number of commercial aircraft. Of the 7,600 employees of these operators, half 

were pilots or copilots. This estimate is based on the composition and utilization of the for-hire 

fleet,and field contacts. About three-quarters of the airplanes flown by for-hire operators were 

single-engine planes, seating three people or more.45 The average annual utilization rate for 

these aircraft and the need of for-hire operators to employ professional pilots because of the nature of the operations indicate an approximate ratio of one pilot to one single-engine plane. Because a copilot is employed on some multiengine planes, for each such plane between one and two 

pilots and copilots are estimated to be employed. A 1 to 1 ratio of pilots to helicopters is estimated on the basis of the complexity of these aircraft and their relatively high average annual utilization. Very few flight attendants are employed by for-hire operators because of the small size 

of the aircraft operated. Flight attendants are required only on airplanes with seating capacity 

for 20 or more passengers. However, some operators of smaller aircraft employ stewardesses.44 

It is estimated that 1 mechanic was needed for each aircraft used by a for-hire operator in I960, 

or a total of about 3,200 mechanics. This estimate is based on trade association information and 

on the nature of the operations. Some for-hire operators, particularly large air taxi operators,4 5provide 

scheduled service around the clock, and must have their planes available at all times. These operators 

employ their own mechanics to perform necessary repairs and maintenance operations rather than leave 

their plane in a repair shop where they might not get the prompt attention that would be necessary. 

Fewer than 500 ground workers, other than mechanics, are employed mainly by those for-hire 

operators who operate two or more planes.

Patrol and survey flying operations accounted for the smallest number of commercial flying 

workers and the fewest aircraft. About 2,300 pilots and copilots were employed in this activity. 

Although the aircraft used were the same basic size as those used in crop dusting activities,differences in average annual utilization and in the type of activity indicated a ratio of pilots and copilots to aircraft that was higher than for crop dusting. For single-engine planes and helicopters, 

which can usually be operated by one person, a 1 to 1 ratio was used. For multiengine planes, 

between one and two pilots and copilots per aircraft was estimated, because these planes have 

higher utilization rates than single-engine planes and because some require a copilot. Few mechanics are employed in patrol and survey flying because a relatively small number of multi-engine planes and helicopters are used.

About 7,000 employees, all pilots, were estimated to be employed in instructional flying. An 

estimated half of this group are employed part time. About 27,000 men had flight instructor certificates in I960, but most of them were not actively engaged in flight instruction. Aircraft used in

42Aircraft in Agriculture, 1960 (FAA), September 1962, p. 2.

450f the 1,440 single-engine planes operated by for-hire operators in 1957, about 1,300 could carry 3 or more 

passengers. General Aviation Aircraft Use, op. cit., p. 27.

44New York Times, June 1, 1962, p. 42.

450f the 2,700 FAA certified air-taxi operators, 180 of the larger ones, members of the National Air Taxi Conference (NATC), operated 427 aircraft including 140 multiengine planes. Between October 1959 and September I960, 

NATC members carried about 81,000 passengers. The average load was only about two passengers per flight. "Air 

Taxi Fleet Doubles in Five Years,” Aircraft Magazine, May 1961, pp. 108-110. (For a further, discuss ion of these 

services, see the O fficial Airline Guide, pp. C-402-408.)

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Table 12. Ownership of business aircraft, by type of aircraft, 1957

Type of aircraft

All business

aircraft

Corporate owned

Individually owned Government owned

Total Flown by professional pilots

Number Percent Number Percent Number

Percent of

corporate

owned

Number Percent Number Percent

All types................ 21,520 100.0 13,470 100.0 4,400 100.0 7,800 100.0 250 100.0

Single-engine. . . . 17,220 80.0 9,630 71.5 1,550 35.3 7,400 94.9 190 76.0

Multiengine............ 4,240 19.7 3,790 28.1 2,790 63.7 390 5.0 60 24.0

Helicopters and

other aircraft . . . . 60 0.3 50 0.4 50 1.1 10 0.1 (1)

^Less than 5 aircraft.

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. 

Source: General Aviation Aircraft U$e: 1957 (FAA), September 1959*

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instructional flying, which are mainly small, have a higher utilization rate than any other general 

aviation segment. Based upon this and trade association information, an average of slightly 

more than one pilot per aircraft was estimated.

Test, ferry, and other flying operations was the smallest general aviation activity, employing an estimated 800 workers—almost all pilots and copilots. The relatively large number of 

complex aircraft included in these activities had a ve'fy low utilization rate. On the other hand, 

a relatively large number of the multiengine planes in these operations require a copilot.

FAA and CA B

The FAA and CAB employ workers in a variety of civil aviation occupations including some 

in which employees perform work similar to that done by their counterparts in the airlines and 

general aviation. For example, the FAA and the CAB employed 850 pilots, copilots, and mechanics in I960. However, the vast majority of Federal civil aviation workers was employed in occupations different from those found in the other divisions of civil aviation.

Of the 40,500 workers employed by the FAA and the CAB in I960, the largest occupational 

category was air traffic servicing, with 17,500 employees. The largest air traffic servicing occupation was air traffic controller, with 11,400 workers.46 The number of workers at centers and 

airports, who are employed to direct airplanes between and around airports, increased more than 

300 percent between 1952 and I960 (table 13). The rapid increase in employment in this occupation was due mainly to the increase in aircraft speed, which makes control work more difficult.

As a result, the average number of aircraft handled annually by each controller directing airplanes between airports decreased from 2,400 in 1957 to 1,400 in I960; the average number of operations 

handled annually by each controller directing aircraft around airports decreased from 10,500 in 1952 to 

5,600 in I960. Other reasons for the rise in the number of controllers include the almost 30-percent increase in the number of FAA airport control towers, between 1950 and I960, the. introduction 

of radar to control traffic, and the increase in the number of airline and other flights subject to 

control.47

An additional 4,000 air traffic service personnel were employed in flight service stations in 

I960 to relay air traffic control information, and provide other flight assistance to pilots, such as 

search and rescue operations. The great majority of these personnel were flight service station 

specialists who operated radio telephones and teletype machines. The others were administrative, 

clerical, or supervisory personnel.

46This and other air traffic servicing employment estimates in this section of the report are based on data from 

Number o f Major Aeronautical F acilities and Services and Other Data (Federal Aviation Agency, Dec. 31, 1961), pp. 10 

and 11. The number of air traffic controllers was obtained by subtracting employment of clerical, administrative, and 

supervisory personnel from total employment in air traffic centers and terminal facilities.

47The number of instrument approaches to traffic control centers, which require additional work for the controller, 

increased by 134 percent between 1952 and I 960. Statistical Handbook o f Civil Aviation, 1961 ed., op cit., p. 31.

During this period, the number of aircraft arrivals and departures at terminals with FAA control facilities increased 

by two-thirds and the number of instrument approaches increased by 145 percent.

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Table 13. FAA air traffic service employment, by place of employment, 

and employment of air traffic controllers, fiscal years 1952-60

Year

Total

employment

Place of employment

Number of

air traffic

controllers Centers Airports Stations Other

195 2 ............. 7,400 1,500 1,800 3,800 340 2,700

1953.............. 7,700 1,600 2,000 3,700 345 3,100

1954.............. 7,500 1,700 2,100 3,500 255 3,200

1955.............. 7,500 2,000 2,200 3,100 240 3,500

1956.............. 8,000 2,300 2,400 3,100 265 4,000

1957.............. 10,800 3,500 3,400 3,400 410 6,100

1958.............. 12,500 4,400 4,000 3,600 540 7,400

1959.............. 16,500 6,900 5,000 3,900 770 10,700

i 960.............. 17,500 7,200 5,400 4,000 830 11,400

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.

Source: Number o f Major Aeronautical F acilities and Services and Other Data (FAA, Oct. 31, 1961).

Employment in flight service stations decreased as the number of stations declined from 

415 in 1952 to 358 in 1956,48 with the introduction of improved long-distance communications 

equipment. Between 1956 and I960, when the number of flight service stations remained relatively stable, employment increased, as additional services were performed for general aviation 

pilots.49

In I960, more than 14,000 workers were employed by the FAA to maintain, repair, and install the electronic devices that make up the Federal Airways—the invisible structure of electronic navagational guides, and-visual navigational components. A little more than half of these 

workers were electronic technicians. The other major occupations, with a total employment of 

1,400, were electrical engineer, airways engineer, and civil engineer.50 The remaining Federal 

Government civil aviation workers were employed in executive and clerical jobs in the FAA or 

the CAB.

48°FAA Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, op., cit., p. 24.

4^First Annual Report (FAA, 1959), p. 10, and Second Annual Report (FAA, I960), p. 29. 

^Unpublished FAA data.

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Chapter HI. Employment Outlook, 1970

Making judgments about future manpower developments is difficult and hazardous. Manpower 

needs can be affected by £ great variety of possible events, including new scientific discoveries 

and inventions, worldwide political developments, natural catastrophes, and the vagaries of consumer preferences. Even if these exogenous factors were not in the background and economic influences were all that had to be considered, the task would still be difficult since our knowledge 

of past economic trends in civil aviation and of the forces governing economic relationships in 

this industry is imperfect, and in some cases, hardly more than rudimentary. As a result, many 

of the employment forecasts appearing in this chapter had to be based on indirect evidence in addition to judgments regarding the limited data available. Where data were not available, employment projections had to be based on assumptions consistent with knowledge of the industry. This 

bulletin does not assess the adequacy of the supply of trained personnel to meet future manpower 

requirements. This problem is currently being investigated by the Aviation Human Resources 

Study Board (see p. 1).

Economic and Technological Framework

The employment projections developed in this study are based on a series of assumptions 

regarding the national economy and technological innovations. Different sets of assumptions 

would result in different conclusions. One major assumption of this study is that war or other 

cataclysmic event which would substantially alter the rate of our economic growth will not occur. 

It is also assumed that relatively high levels of economic activity and full employment will be 

realized during the period covering our projections.

Consistent with the above assumptions, the gross national product (GNP) is estimated to increase by more than 50 percent between I960 and 1970 and, in line with historical trends, the 

transportation sector of the GNP is estimated to increase by 30 percent, both according to Report

of the Task Force on National Aviation G oals—P roject Horizon. 51 Air transportation will play an 

increasingly important role in the national transportation system, and by 1970, is expected to account for about 14 percent of transportation national income, contrasted with about 7 percent in 

1960.52

Although the nature of air transportation may change so completely that there will be little 

relationship between employment and causal factors such as the number of aircraft or volume of 

traffic, this is not expected to occur within the decade covered by the employment projections in 

this study. Some experimental work now underway is concerned with aircraft that can be operated 

without a pilot; rocket transportation; and other radical in n o v a tio n s .5 5 Successful developments in 

such fields could eliminate existing flight occupations and create new occupations.

5*Many of the projections used by the FAA to prepare Report o f the T ask Force on National Aviation G oals—

Project Horizon (FAA, September 1961), and S elected Characteristics o f U,S. Air Carrier, General Aviation, and Military Flying Activity—Historical and As P rojected through 1970 (Annex to Project Horizon), (FAA, November 1961), 

have been accepted in this study because they are more recent and comprehensive than comparable projections. (This 

comprehensive FAA report was prepared to aid . in the establishment of national aviation goals between 

1961 and 1970.) However, the latest forecasts of revenue passengers and revenue passenger-miles in Aviation F orecasts,

F isca l 1963-1968 (FAA Office of Policy Development, November 1962) were adopted. (See footnote 63 for a listing of 

other forecasts of the number of aircraft and aviation activity.)

52Survey o f Current B usiness (U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Business Economics) July 1962, p. 11.

(7.5. Income and Output (U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Business Economics) November 1958, p. 131. Air 

transportation national income for 1970 was estimated by extending the 1950-60 relationship between air transportation national income and total transportation national income.

55see "New Blind Landing Aid is Demonstrated," Aviation Week and Space Technology, Sept. 14, 1962, p. 144, 

and New York Times, June 9, 1959, p. 12.

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The discussion of the outlook for future technological developments in civil aviation was 

also adapted from P roject Horizon. Those technological developments which could directly affect employment are as follows:

1. The supersonic transport plane (SST)5.4 The SST is not expected to be operational until 

after 1970.55

When the SST does become operational, there are indications that the total number of flight 

personnel employed by the airlines will decline. The same size flight crew which operates 

todays modem jet plane probably will be necessary to operate the SST.56 Since the SST will fly 

many times faster and carry more passengers than today’s jets, a reduction in total flight crew 

employment will result. Because of the limited market for the SST, its introduction will not 

affect flight crew employment as greatly as the transition to turbojet planes.57

2. f The short/medium range jet plane. This plane, which will become operational during 

the latter half of the 1960’s, will require the same size flight crew (two men) as the light turboprop and piston engine planes which they will replace. These planes should help the local service airlines to expand their medium- and short-haul service, particularly in cities they already 

serve, as well as to provide service to cities no longer served by the trunk airlines.

3. ' Pure jet cargo planes. During the 1960’s, the scheduled airlines will place into service 

a long-range, jet plane especially designed to carry only cargo and capable of bringing about 

"very substantial reductions in the price asked for air freight service” 58 and a corresponding 

large increase in air freight volume and employment. This assumption appears to be conservative because two all-cargo airlines have already placed into service new turboprop planes specifically designed for cargo movement, and several airlines have placed into service jet passenger 

planes modified to carry only cargo.59 The direct operating costs for the new turboprop planes 

are more than 40 percent lower than the most economical piston engine planes now used for cargo 

movement. According to one source, pure jet planes especially designed to transport cargo, which 

will be introduced later in the decade, can reduce operating costs by another 25 percent.60

54A few airlines recently announced orders for SST’s for delivery in 1970 or earlier, although precise delivery 

dates are uncertain. However, even if deliveries are made prior to 1970, it is assumed that the number of SST’s in 

operation by 1970 will be so limited as to have little effect on employment requirements.

55ln addition to Project Horizon, several other sources anticipate that the SST will not be introduced into airline use until the early 1970’s. For example, see "Timetable For The Mach 3 Jetliner,” Business/Com m ercial Aviation, June 1959; Contemporary and Future Aeronautical R esearch, Hearings Before the Committee on Science and 

Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives (87th Cong., 1st sess.) August 1,2,3, an<* 8, 1961.

56"Uf.S. Profile of an SST,” A irlife Magazine, January 1961, p. 23. For a discussion of changes in job content 

for flight occupations, maintenance and communications occupations, and air traffic controllers, that will result from 

the introduction of a SST, see The T echnical, Economic and Social C onsequences o f the Introduction Into Commercial

Service o f Supersonic Aircraft (International Civil Aviation Organization—ICAO), August I960, pp. 85-87.

57A discussion of the need by U.S. airlines for SST’s appears in Contemporary and Future Aeronautical R esearch, op. cit.

58Project Horizon Annex, op. cit., p. VI.

59«*CL 44 Expanding Cargo Carriers* Market, ” Aviation Week and Space Technology, Nov. 2:0, 1961, p. 72 

and ^Carriers Begin First Move into Jet Cargo,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, Mar. 11, 1963> p. 170.

60jflaroici ie Wein, Domestic Air Cargo: Its Prospects, Occasional Paper No. 7 (Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1962), p. 14.

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4. Larger helicopters. Although many improved helicopters will become operational during 

the mid-1960*s, service will not be conducted in many cities. Large, twin-turbine helicopters 

were being introduced into scheduled airline service in 1962. These aircraft can carry 25 persons 

(nearly twice the passenger-carrying capacity of helicopters previously used), and reduce seat 

mile costs by 20 to 50 percent.61

Scheduled helicopter service is currently provided in- four cities and operators in 80 other 

cities have requested permission to begin service. As of late 1963, the CAB had not approved 

these applications because of the continued necessity for Government subsidy.

5. Pure jet aircraft for general aviation use. Several types of pure jet aircraft, specifically 

designed for general aviation, will become operational during the mid-1960’s. Many airplane manufacturers took orders for turbojet general aviation aircraft as early as 1961. One manufacturer 

anticipates that the demand for these aircraft for business flying alone will be about 1,000 in 

1970.62

Employment Projections

The major projections of total employment in civil aviation and its principal divisions are 

as follows: Total employment is projected to increase by nearly 80,000 between 1960 and 1970 

(table 14). About 46 percent of the additional employment probably will be in the airlines, which 

will expand their passenger and cargo traffic greatly. Although the number of additional jobs 

estimated for general aviation (36,000) is about the same as for the airlines, employment in general aviation will grow at a faster rate than in the other civil aviation divisions.

Table 14. Employment in civil aviation, I960 and estimated 1970

Division I960 1970

Percent change,

1960-70

All d iv isio n s..................................... 280,500 359,200 +28.1

A irlines................................................................. 176,000 212,200 +20.6

Scheduled....................................................... 167,300 200,000 +19.5

Supplemental................................................. 2,300 1,200 -47.8

Foreign -flag................................................. 6,400 11,000 +71.9

General aviation................................................. 64,000 100,000 +56.3

Business fly in g ........................................... 16,000 25,000 +56.3

Commercial flying........................................ 14,000 26,000 +85.7

Instructional flying..................................... 7,000 10,700 +52.9

Test, ferry, and other flyin g ................... 1,000 1,300 +30.0

Independent certificated repair

s ta tio n s .................................................... 26,000 37,000 +42.3

FAA and C A B .................................................... 40,500 47,000 +16.0

Sources: I960—see tables 3, 5, and 7; 1970—BLS estimates.

61

62The H elicopter and Other V/STOL Aircraft In Commercial Transport Service (FAA, Nov. I960), p. 44. 

“ Turbine Power Speeds the Company Plane” , B usiness Week, Oct. 7, 1961, p. 80.

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Large increases in the number of aircraft are anticipated in business, for-hire, and other general 

aviation activities. FAA and CAB employment is expected to increase slowly; only about 6,500 

new jobs may be added. The Government will need additional workers to ease the strain that will 

be placed on the Nation’s airways and control facilities by increasing speed and number of airplanes.

Scheduled A irlines.

Substantial increases in scheduled airline activity are projected during the 1960’s. Revenue passenger-miles are expected to increase by nearly 85 percent between 1960and 1970 (to about 70 billion),6 3 or 

about 6 percent a year—about half the average annual growth rate during the 1950,s. This expectation is 

consistent with projected increases in gross national product, population, and real family income. The 

projections of revenue passenger-miles referred to in footnote 63> generally more optomistic than the one 

used in this bul letin, were not used to project total airline employment because they are limited to domestic 

passenger traffic, do not extend to 1970, or do not reflect recent experience. Passenger seat miles are expected to increase somewhat less rapidly than revenue passenger-miles.

Air cargo traffic is projected to be nearly four times greater in 1970 than in I960 because of 

anticipated reductions in cargo rates.63 4 Domestic air cargo rates are expected to decline by 45 percent and international air cargo rates by 60 percent. Domestic air cargo is projected to oncrease fourfold—from less than erne-half billion ton-miles to two billion. International air cargo handled by U.S.-flag 

airlines is projected to increase even more rapidly —from 226 million ton-miles to 1.8 billion.

In spite of large increases in passenger and cargo traffic, the size of the airline fleet is 

expected to be slightly smaller in 1970 than in 1960.65 The decline will result from the substitution of large, fast, and more efficient planes for smaller planes now in use. Between I960 and 

1965, the scheduled airline fleet is expected to decline and then by 1970, will increase to 

nearly the I960 level. By 1970, jets will comprise 70 percent of the fleet.

Projections of total scheduled airline employment in this report were made in two ways. The 

first method involved summing the employment projections for the individual occupational categories. The second method involved correlating past employment with revenue passenger-miles 

and extending the trend line. Both methods yielded employment projections of similar magnitude.

These employment projections do not take into account recent airline merger proposals 

pending before the CAB in late 1963. Such mergers, if effected, could result in lower employment 

through eliminating duplicate physical facilities and routes, and combining accounting and 

other administrative functions.

63Aviation F orecasts, F isca l Years 1963*1968, op. cit., p. 14. For other projections see, F orecast o f Airline

P assenger Traffic In The United States, 1959*1965, Staff Research Report No. 1 (Civil Aeronautics Board, December 

1959); Comparison o f Curtis Report (National Requirements for Aviation F a cilities: 1956*1975) F orecasts With Re*

search Division Estimates**Air Carrier (FAA, Traffic Analysis Branch, April I960); and Aviation F orecasts**F iscal

1962*1967 (FAA, Economics Branch, October 1961); and Domestic Air Traffic Forecast, by T. F. Comick and W. H. 

Don Wallace (The Boeing Company Transport Division, Renton, Wash., August 1961). This latter report includes a 

summary of the forecasts of revenue passenger-miles for 1965, made by the 11 domestic trunk airlines. The forecasts 

of 10 of these airlines are higher than the forecast used in this bulletin.

64Projections relating to air cargo and rates are taken from Project Horizon Annex, op. cit., pp. 21 and 23. These 

projections of domestic and international air cargo volume are higher than other projections for*the 1960-70 decade.

For example, Harold H. Wein, op. cit., anticipates an increase of 150 percent in domestic air cargo traffic.

63Project Horizon Annex, op. cit., p. 30-35 and 39.

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Total employment in the scheduled airlines was projected to increase by about 20 percent 

between I960 and 1970, with more than half of this growth occuring in the. second half of the decade. Occupational employment projections in the scheduled airlines generally are consistent with 

trends during the late 1950's.

Aircraft and traffic servicing workers are expected to be the fastest growing occupational 

category and may account for nearly one-third of all scheduled airline workers by 1970 (table 15). 

Employment of flight attendants is also expected to grow rapidly. The number of other flight personnel (mainly pilot-qualified flight engineers) will remain about the same over the decade. One 

assumption of the employment projections for other tiight personnel and also for pilots and copilots is that the scheduled airline flight crew on most airplanes weighing more than 80,000 

pounds will be made up of three men—a flight crew complement now employed by a majority of the 

scheduled airlines.^ For purposes of this report, the third man is considered a flight engineer 

and not a copilot even though he has some copilot qualifications, because Civil Air Regulations 

require the third man to have only a flight engineer's certificate. Although employment of office 

workers will decline relative to total scheduled airline employment, they are projected to increase 

numerically over the decade. The number of maintenance workers, pilots and copilots, and communications workers is expected to remain about the same.

Table 15. Scheduled airline employment, by occupational group,

I960 and estimated 1970

Occupation

i960 1970

Number Percent Number Percent

All occupations..................................... 167,300 100.0 200,000 100.0

Aircraft and traffic servicing

workers .................................................... 43,500 26.0 63,500 31.8

Office w orkers.............................................. 35,600 21.3 39,500 19.8

Maintenance workers .................................. 34,500 20.6 35,000 17.5

Flight atten d an ts........................................ 10,700 6.4 14,500 7.3

Pilots and co p ilo ts..................................... 13,600 8.1 13,500 6.7

Other flight personnel.................................. 3,900 2.3 3,900 1.9

Communications workers............................ 4,200 2.5 4,000 2.0

Other workers................................................. 21,300 12.7 26,000 13.0

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.

Source: I960—See table 8; 1970—BLS estimates.

Employment of aircraft servicing workers depends mainly on the number of passenger seatmiles and cargo ton-miles flown by the scheduled airlines. The anticipated switch to fast, large 

jet planes during the 1960's, which will result in great increases in passenger and cargo capacities.

"The Labor Month in Review," Monthly Labor Review, June 1962, pp. III-IV. Pilot and copilot employment 

would increase substantially if the flight crew controversy is resolved in either of two ways: (1) a fourth flight 

crew member—a pilot—is added to airline flights, or (2) the third member of the flight crew—the holder of the flight 

engineer certificate—is reclassified as a copilot. Pilot and copilot employment would be reduced more substantially 

than shown in table 15 if those few airlines currently operating with three pilots and one flight engineer reduce their 

flight crews to two pilots and one engineer.

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will cause substantial employment growth for aircraft servicing workers. However, employment of 

these workers will rise more slowly than passenger and cargo capacity because technological innovations and new procedures for aircraft cleaning, fueling, and other functions are expected to 

continue during the remainder of the 1960’s.67

Employment of traffic servicing workers, which depends on the number of revenue passengermiles and cargo ton-miles, is expected to grow tremendously during the 1960,s. However, traffic 

servicing employment will not grow as fast as passenger and cargo traffic for several reasons.

In areas of high traffic density, increases in shuttle service68 *will reduce baggage handlers’ work, 

because on shuttle flights passengers are permitted to carry their baggage on board the plane. Improvements are also being introduced in baggage handling equipment and procedures,169 cargo packaging methods, and loading equipment and procedures. On one airline, for example, installation 

of a mechanized cargo-handling system increased the number of pounds loaded per man-hour from 

2 ,3 0 0 to more than 4 0 ,0 0 0 .7 0

Employment of aircraft and traffic servicing workers is expected to increase by about 4 percent'annually between I960 and 1970—a little slower than the estimated annual rate of increase 

in passenger traffic. By 1970, the scheduled airlines are expected to employ about 63,300 aircraft 

and traffic servicing workers.

Because more than half of all office workers are employed as ticket agents and clerks, total 

employment in this group depends largely upon the number of passengers transported by the scheduled airlines. The number of revenue passengers transported by the scheduled airlines is projected 

to increase from 58 million in I960 to about 83 million in 1965 (an increase of 43 percent) and to 

nearly 103 million in 1970 (an increase of 24 percent over 1965).71 These gains will be slightly 

less than those expected for revenue passenger-miles because of the continuing trend to longer 

average trip length.

Office worker employment is not anticipated to increase as rapidly as the number of revenue 

passengers. Expansion of air shuttle service, or similar developments, during the 1960’s, is expected to have a dampening effect on the employment of ticket and reservations personnel because 

reservations are not needed for shuttle service and shuttle passengers may buy their tickets from 

a stewardess on board the plane. The increasing use of automatic reservations system for passengers and cargo may slow down the growth of office worker employment. The number of office personnel is projected to increase by about 10 percent during the 1960’s—to about 39,500 in 1970—with 

only one-quarter of the new jobs developing in the second half of the decade.

67<*Equipm ent F or S erv icin g J e ts B eco m es C o stly Burden For A ir lin e s / ’ New York Times, 

July 2, 1961, p. 34.

The rapid growth of shuttle service since its introduction in ^April 1961 may be illustrated by its increased 

importance in the Boston-New York-Washington market. Of the 380,000 passengers who flew between Boston, New 

York, and Washington during the first 2 months of 1962, about 170,000 (45 percent) flew on shuttle flights. “ Shuttle 

Provides Big Competitive Boost,M Aviation Week and Space Technology, April 9, 1962, pp. 38-41.

^ “ Jet Advent Stresses Ground Handling Lag,” Aviation Week and Space Technologyt May 1, 1961, p. 151.

“ What's Holding Back Air Freight," a paper presented by Robert Prescott, President, Flying Tiger Line, to a 

symposium sponsored by the Connecticut General Life Insurance Co., Nov. 1, 2, and 3, 1961. New Haven, Conn.

^ B ased on data in National Airport Plan: Requirements For F isca l Years 1962-1966 (FAA, April 1961), p. 6.

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Employment of airplane mechanics (maintenance workers) will show little change from the 

I960 level. The ratio of mechanics to aircraft remained fairly constant throughout the 1950’s 

(averaging about 18.9 mechanics per aircraft) despite the introduction of jets and other new aircraft types,72 This ratio is not expected to change significantly during the 1960’s, even though 

airlines are expected to continue converting their existing fleets to jet planes; consequently, 

employment projections for mechanics were made by multiplying the projected number of airline 

aircraft by 18.9. On this basis, about 35,000 mechanics (approximately the same number as in 

I960) will be employed by the scheduled airlines in 1970.

The number of pilots and copilots in 1970 is expected to be about the same as in I960 because the ratio of pilots and copilots to aircraft (about 7 to 1 in I960) probably will be about the 

same. The jet aircraft in the 1970 fleet are expected to be mainly of the same basic type as 

those in operation today. However, jets will be a greater proportion of tomorrow’s fleet than 

they were in I960 and, as a result, average aircraft speed will increase greatly between I960 

and 1970. The number of hours flown by pilots and copilots during a month probably will decline 

during the 1960’s at about the same rate as the 1950’s.7^ As a result of these offsetting trends, 

the pilot-aircraft ratio is anticipated to remain stable during the 1960-70 decade.

The 1970 employment estimate was made by multiplying the projected number of aircraft by 7. On 

this basis, about 13,500 pilots and copilots are expected to be employed in 1970.

Employment of stewardesses and other flight attendants is expected to grow more than onethird by 1970. In the past, employment in this occupational group has been largely determined by 

the number and class of revenue passenger-miles flown by the scheduled airlines. During the 

1960’s, the growth in the number of revenue passenger-miles flown by the scheduled airlines will 

cause flight attendant employment to increase, although a continuation of the shift to coach, economy, and shuttle traffic (which offer a few in-flight services), and increased airplane speed, will 

tend to retard this growth. The number of coach and economy class revenue passenger-miles is 

projected to increase from about 20 billion in I960 to about 60 billion in 1970. First class revenue passenger-miles will probably decline from 18 billion in 1960 to 10 billion in 1970. By 1970, 

coach and economy class air transportation is expected to be 86 percent of passenger air transportation, contrasted with 53 percent in I960. Increased airplane speed will also enable flight 

attendants to fly more revenue passenger-miles in a working month in 1970 than in I960. For example, among the U.S.-flag international airlines, employment of flight attendants remained nearly 

constant between 1958 and 1960 despite a nearly one-third increase in revenue passenger-miles, 

mainly because the introduction of jet aircraft increased average aircraft speed by nearly 20 percent. Because of these factors, the number of revenue passenger-miles flown by a flight attendant is projected to increase by about 35 percent between I960 and 1970.74

72In I960, nearly one-third of the U.S.-flag international fleet was jet powered. That same year, there were 33.6 

mechanics to each airplane flown by these airlines. This ratio deviated from the 1950-60 mean ratio by only 2.9; the 

average deviation from the mean during the 1950-60 period was 3.4.

7^"Pay Practices for Flight Employees in the U.S. Airlines,” Report o f the P residential Railroad Commission

(Washington, February 1962), Appendix, Vol. IV.

^ T h e increase in revenue passenger-miles per flight attendant, 1960-70, was extrapolated on the basis of the 

1957-60 rate of growth because the earlier period had many of the characteristics that will determine flight attendant 

employment between I960 and 1970. During the 1957-60 period, there was a rapid increase in aircraft speed (20 percent) and a continuation of the trend towards the use of coach and economy class transportation (from 43 percent of 

total revenue passenger-miles in 1957 to 53 percent in I960).

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The major determinant of employment of other flight personnel between 1948 and I960 

was the number of aircraft requiring flight engineers (those planes weighing more than

80,000 pounds). By 1970, there will be about 1,300 such planes (70 percent of the scheduled 

airline fleet).75 These large aircraft will be similar to those in operation today. The ratio 

of other flight personnel to aircraft over 80,000 pounds is expected to decline slightly during the 

first half of the 1960’s because navigators will be replaced by electronic navigation equipment 

("Doppler Radar” ) which can be operated by either the pilot or copilot.7^ Navigators were needed in I960 

only aboard those planes operated on over-water flights—nearly 200 operated mainly by the U.S.- 

flag international airlines. The ratio of other flight personnel to aircraft over 80,000 pounds was 

3 to 1 in I960 and is not expected to vary significantly during the 1960-70 decade because reductions in navigator employment are expected to be offset by increases in flight engineer employment. The increase in the number of scheduled airline aircraft weighing more than 80,000 pounds 

will about offset the elimination of planes where navigators must be present. Employment of 

flight engineers—3,500 in I960—is projected to rise to about 3,900 in 1970. As indicated previously, the third man in the flight crew is considered to be a flight engineer even though he has 

some pilot qualifications.

In the event that a flight engineer is employed on the new, light, short-range jet planes scheduled for introduction about 1965,77 an estimated 1,000 additional flight engineers will be employed 

during the latter half of the 1960’s.78

Employment of communications workers is expected to remain at about 4,000 throughout the 

1960’s. In some communications occupations, such as ground radio operator, employment is expected to decline, mainly because of improved long-distance communications equipment. In addition, in recent years, many airlines have contracted their communications functions to a company 

which is outside of civil aviation as defined in this study.7^ Because it is more efficient for this 

company (which is owned mainly by the airlines) to perform airline communications functions, in* 

creases in airline communications needs during the 1960’s probably will be met by this company. 

Employment declines in communications occupations, however, will be offset by anticipated increases in other airline occupations associated with communications functions, such as typist.

The number of scheduled airline personnel designated as other workers (for example, hotel, 

restaurant, and food service personnel), is expected to grow by about 20 percent between I960 

and 1970—as in the past, slightly faster than total employment in the other seven airline occupational categories, combined. The same factors that accounted for the growth of the "other worker” 

category between 1957 and I960—such as the increasing number of passengers and the introduction 

of new aircraft—will be influential during the 1960’s.

75During the 1960*s, many light planes weighing less than 80,000 pounds will continue to be replaced by heavier 

aircraft. However, this transition will be slower than in the past because some of the replacement aircraft will be 

small jet planes, weighing less than 80,000 pounds. To project the relative number of aircraft over 80,000 pounds, a 

free-hand second-degree trend line was fitted to a time series representing the percentages that aircraft over 80,000 

pounds were of the total airline fleet, between 1948 and I 960.

7^"TWA Navigators Await Flight to Oblivion," New York Times, Jan. 7, 1962, Sec. I, p. 87.

77««FAA Enters Jet Crew Complement Fight," Aviation Week and Space Technology, June 18, 1962, p. 20.

78The market for this plane is estimated to be about 400 planes. "Douglas 2086 Fate Hinges on 125 Orders," 

Aviation Week and Space Technology, Apr. 16, 1962, pp. 40 and 41; "Douglas to Build DC-9 Despite Order L ack," 

Aviation Week and Space Technology, Mar. 11, 1963, p. 70.

^Aeronautical Radio, Inc. ("ARINC") is a communications company that specializes in air-ground-air aeronautical mobile service and point-to-point aeronautical fixed service. The airlines are the principal users as well as the 

principal owners of ARINC.

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C ertificated Supplemental A irlines.

By 1965, employment in the supplemental airlines is projected to decline to about 

half of the I960 level (which was 2,300) and then remain stable through the second half 

of the decade. As in the past, the single most important determinant of employment will 

be the size of the supplemental airline fleet, which is expected to decline by 50'percent between 

I960 and 1965, and remain about the same between 1965 and 1970. Legislation passed in mid1962 prohibits the supplemental airlines from engaging in any scheduled service and establishes 

additional aircraft maintenance requirements and stricter financial regulation. The supplemental 

airlines of the 1960’s will be limited largely to charter flying services, and consequently, will 

need fewer planes.

Foreign-Flag A irlines.

On the basis of limited available data, the number of U. S. citizens working for 

foreign-flag air carriers probably will increase rapidly during the 1960’s —by more than 70 percent, to about 11,000. This increase will stem mainly from the growing passenger demand for international air transportation. Assuming the foreign-flag air carriers maintain their share of the 

U.S. overseas market, they will fly more than twice as many revenue passenger-miles in 1970 as 

in 1960.

Americans employed by foreign-flag air carriers work mainly in aircraft and traffic servicing, 

and office jobs. Consequently, the same factors that affected employment of these workers in the 

U.S. scheduled airlines probably will affect employment on the foreign-flag air carriers. For example, improved baggage handling equipment and procedures, reservations systems, and aircraft 

servicing equipment and procedures will limit the growth of ground workers-on foreign air carriers.

General Aviation.

Indications are that general aviation employment will increase faster than either 

airlines’ employment or combined FAA and CAB employment as greater acceptance of small aircraft leads to more widespread demand for general aviation services. Employment in general aviation may increase by more than 50 percent—to about 100,000 by 1970.8^Within general aviation, 

commercial flying activities will be the fastest growing segment, with employment rising by 12,000— 

about 85 percent over the I960 level (table 14). Employment in independent certificated repair 

establishments, and in business flying, will also increase rapidly—by about 10,000 jobs in each 

segment. Only a relatively small number of jobs will be added in instructional flying, and test, 

ferry, and other flying, even though these activities will grow very rapidly.

Employment of pilots and copilots and airplane mechanics will grow rapidly and continue to 

account for nearly all general aviation employment, as shown in the following tabulation:

I960 1970

T o t a l...........................____ 64,000 100,000

Pilots and copilots . . . .____ 33,000 53,000

Airplane mechanics . . . .------ 28,300 43,000

Others....................................------ 2,700 4,000

The number of aircraft and their complexity are the two principal factors determining future 

general aviation employment. The number of aircraft is anticipated to increase by more than onethird and the number of multiengine planes, which are relatively complex, will nearly double. The 

fleets of all general aviation segments (except pleasure flying) will become larger and more complex during the 1960’s. Appendix A provides a detailed projection of the various general aviation 

fleets. A discussion of employment outlook in each general aviation segment follows.

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Employment in independent certificated repair stations, the largest employer in general 

aviation, is expected to increase rapidly~to 37,000 in 1970. According to FAA projections, the 

number of certificated repair stations is expected to increase by about 42 percent over the decade with most of the growth occurring during the first half of the decade. The growth in the number of stations will result from greater maintenance requirements of bigger aircraft and an increase 

in the general aviation fleet. The 1970 employment estimate of mechanics and supervisors was 

made by multiplying the average number of these personnel in independent certificated repair stations in I960 (32) by the estimated number of independent certificated repair establishments in 

1970. Nonmechanic personnel were assumed to constitute the same proportion of total certificated 

repair stations employment in 1970 as in I960.

Employment in business flying is also expected to show rapid growth, reaching about 25,000 

in 1970. Pilots and copilots will continue to comprise about 90 percent of all workers in business 

flying. Higher employment will result from large increases in the number of business aircraft, as 

companies increasingly operate their own aircraft for convenience and to^save time, and to speed 

up their marketing and sales procedures. By 1970, almost half of all general aviation aircraft are 

projected to be used in business flying. In spite of the present widespread use of business flying, there is considerable room for expansion. For example, according to one estimate, of the

3,000 leading industrial and commercial companies in the United States, less than 12 percent 

have airplanes.81

Aircraft used in business flying are expected to become larger and more complex during the 

1960's. For example, it is anticipated that the number of multiengine planes will increase more 

than 80 percent and, by 1970, a few hundred aircraft will be turbine powered.82 Increased use of 

instrumentation, and the ability of these larger planes to withstand turbulent air, will allow operation in almost any kind of weather. The ratio of pilots and copilots to multiengine airplanes is 

expected to increase during the 1960's because an increasing number of these relatively complex 

planes will require a copilot.

The operating characteristics of helicopters used in business flying are expected to remain 

the same over the decade, ;and the ratio of pilots to helicopters is expected to remain unchanged. 

In contrast, the ratio of pilots to single engine planes probably will decline because these planes 

are expected to become simpler to operate and, as a result, many additional businessmen will fly 

company aircraft without a professional pilot. For example, the increasing use of tricycle landing 

gear will make planes simpler to land and take off, and radio navigation equipment will simplify 

navigation.

Commercial flying employment is also expected to show substantial growth in the 1960's, 

reaching about 26,000 by 1970. Pilots and copilots will continue to account for nearly threefourths of commercial flying employment throughout the decade. The major reason for the projected 

employment growth in commercial flying activities is the expected increase in the number of aircraft that will be used to perform a growing amount of commercial flying services.

®®The general aviation employment projections were based largely on Project Horizon projections of the general aviation fleet size. In the spring of 1964, manufacturers of general aviation aircraft indicated that the production of such aircraft during the latter part of the 1960's might grow rapidly in contrast to the relative stability in the level of production since 

the mid-1950's . Should such rapid growth occur, then the size of the general aviation fleet in 1970 could significantly exceed 

that anticipated in Project Horizon, Consequently, the employment estimate for general aviation in this bulletin would be 

somewhat understated. To use an extreme i llustration, if the average annual increment in the general aviation fleet between 

1965 and 1969 should be 6000 planes—double the increment projected in Project Horizon—employment in 1970 would be 

roughly 10 percent above the 100,000 projected in this bulletin.

81"A Look at 'General Aviation*," Sperryscope, First Quarter 1961, pp. 12-14.

8 2 " Turbine Power Speeds the Company Plane," B u sin ess Week, 9ct. 7, 1961, p. 82.

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Most of the employment increase in commercial flying is expected to be in for-hire (charter) 

activities where the demand for air transportation in communities not serviced by the airlines will 

probably increase somewhat, although not enough to warrant scheduled airline service.* 85 Employment by for-hire operators may more than double over the 1960-70 decade—increasing to nearly 

17,000. By 1970, employment in this activity may be nearly two-thirds of all commercial flying 

employment, contrasted with only about half in I960. The introduction of more efficient planes 

that will lower seat-mile rates and thus broaden the potential market will also spur the growth of 

for-hire operations. Employment will also be stimulated by new services performed, by aircraft, 

such as the use of helicopters for transport of large, preassembled building parts to construction 

sites. The relatively large increase projected in the number of for-hire, multiengine planes, many 

of which will require a copilot, is expected to cause employment to grow slightly faster than the 

number of for-hire aircraft. Consequently, the ratio of pilots and copilots to multiengine planes 

will increase slightly. The ratio of professional pilots to single-engine planes is expected to remain the same even though these planes will become simpler to operate. However, the employment 

effect of growing simplicity of operation will tend to be offset by the need to hire professional 

pilots to meet greater safety requirements and to operate single-engine planes in poor weather when 

some amateur pilots lack either the ability or the inclination to fly.

Employment in crop-dusting activities will increase by about 50 percent—to about 6,000 in 

1970—the same rate as the increase in fleet size. Crop-dusting will expand as farms continue to 

grow larger, making aerial application practical. 84 Single-engine planes will remain the predominant type of aircraft used in crop dusting.

Substantial employment growth is also expected in patrol and survey flying. By 1970, employment will reach about 3,500. The pipeline industry is just one example of a growing industry 

that will cause an expansion of patrol and survey flying. Multiengine planes and helicopters will 

become increasingly important in the patrol and survey flying fleet.

F ederal Aviation Agency and Civil Aeronautics Board.

By 1970, 47,000 civil aviation workers will be employed by the Federal Government compared with about 40,500 in I960.85 The FAA will continue to employ practically all of these 

workers.86 In order to estimate FAA employment in 1970, FAA employment projections for each 

of the 17 FAA services and offices for the 1964-68 period were utilized.87 These projections 

were modified by later unpublished projections made to 1969 by the FAA for its total employment, 

and were then extended to 1970. On this basis, employment of air traffic control workers is expected to increase by nearly 25 percent, to about 22,000 in 1970. Within this group, airport traffic controllers will be the fastest growing occupational group, increasing by nearly 50 percent to 

about 8,000. The number of center and station controllers is expected to increase more slowly, 

to 8,000 and 5,000 respectively in 1970 as compared with 7,200 and 4,000 in I960. Stable em8^MLight-Twin Gains Public Approval," Aviation Week and Space Technology, July 23, 1962, p. 28, "Skiers, 

Tourists Boost Operations of Third-Level Carriers", Aviation Week and Space Technology, Feb. 11, 1963, p. 45.

8^Aircraft in Agriculture, 1960 (FAA, September 1962), p. 1.

85Becau$e these projections are based on data which became available in mid-1964, they differ from projections 

for FAA and CAB employment appearing in "Outlook and Trends in Aviation Employment,** Monthly L,abor Review,

N ov .^ 63, p. 1290.

For a discussion of the changing patterns of FAA employment, see Summary, F iv e Year Budget Program, 1964-

68 (FAA, May 1963).

ft7, These projections appear in Summary, F iv e Year Bridget Program, 1964-68 Op, cit.

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ployment levels are expected of the remaining workers in the air traffic controller group, mainly 

supervisory and administration personnel. Employment of air traffic control workers will grow 

because of anticipated'increases in air traffic and in services that will be offered.88 * However, 

employment growth will be partially offset by the introduction of an automation system for the 

control of enroute air traffic, and the reduction in the number of air route traffic control centers 

and flight service stations due to consolidation.

88For example, the principal workload indicators for airport traffic controllers are aircraft operations and instrument operations. The number of aircraft operations is projected to increase by 34 percent (from 26.4 million operations annually in I960 to 35.5 million in 1968) and the number of instrument operations by 47 percent (from 6.4 million 

to 9.4 million).Ibid, p. 23.

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A PPEN DIX A.

Methodology Used to Estimate General Aviation Aircraft

Estimated 1960

Aircraft, by Segment.

The I960 distribution of aircraft (table A-l) for most segments is based on FAA data, both 

published and unpublished. However, the I960 estimates of aircraft classified in commercial 

flying, and in test, ferry, and other flying (two general aviation activities for which I960 FAA estimates are not available) are based on an extrapolation of 1954-57 trends, modified by judgments 

concerning industry developments. The FAA estimate of the total general aviation fleet size in 

I960 served as a control total. The same rates of change that occurred in commercial flying, and 

test, ferry, and other flying fleets between 1954 and 1957 (table A-l) were extended to I960 because the rates of change in the number of miles and hours flown in both of these segments were 

constant throughout the 1954-60 period. Within the commercial flying segment, estimates were made 

separately for crop dusting, for-hire operations, and patrol and survey flying because of vast differences in these activities. The number of crop dusting aircraft in for-hire flying was based on 

unpublished FAA information on the number of operators licensed to conduct these operations. 

Patrol and survey flying aircraft were estimated to be approximately the same percent of the commercial flying fleet in I960 as in 1957 and 1954.

It was assumed that the numberof aircraft used in instructional flying activities increasedslightly 

between 1957 and 1960—consistent with a projection of the instructional flying fleet made by the FAA.

Aircraft, by Type.

The I960 estimates in table A-2 are based on trends in the number and type of aircraft, by 

segment, between 1954 and 1957, modified by judgments concerning industry developments and 

using FAA data on the aggregate number of various aircraft types for control totals.90

Projected 1970

Aircraft, By Segment.

The 1970 projections of the general aviation fleet, by segment, are based on projections 

made in the Curtis Report, modified by changes that occurred between 1954 and I960. Between 

I960 and 1970, the business flying fleet is expected to increase by 63 percent and become general 

aviation’s largest fleet. The commercial flying fleet will grow slightly faster—by 74 percent. The 

instructional flying fleet will also grow rapidly, increasing by nearly 50 percent, while the number 

of pleasure aircraft will remain about the same throughout the 1960-70 period.

The distribution of the commercial fleet in 1970 into for-hire operations, crop dusting, and 

patrol and survey flying was based on an extrapolation of historical trends, modified by a projection of 

hours flown.91

Aircraft, By Type.

The historical trends in the number of aircraft by type used in each general aviation segment, 

were extended to 1970 and modified by anticipated changes in the functions performed by aircraft 

in the various segments. Forecasts of the total number of aircraft by type in P roject Horizon,

served as control totals.

90National Requirements For Aviation F a cilities, 1956-1975, vol. IV, Forecasts of Aviation Activity (Curtis Report). Prepared by the Aeronautical Research Foundation, for Edward P. Curtis, Special Assistant to the President 

for Aviation Facilities ‘Planning, 1957, p. 17.

91Aviation F orecasts, F isca l Years 1963-1968, op. cit., p. 22. FAA projections of hours flown extend only to 

1968. These projections were extended to 1970 by drawing trend lines for 1957-67 data and extending them to 1970.

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Table A-l. General aviation aircraft, by segment,

actual 1954 and 1957, estimated I960 and 1970

Segment

1954 1957 i 960 1970

, Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

All segments............................... 61,180 100.0 66,520 100.0 76,350 100.0 105,000 100.0

Business ........................................ ... 18,570 30.4 21,520 32.4 29,000 37.9 47,250 45.0

Commercial ......................................... 7,850 12.8 8,800 13.2 10,300 13.5 17,900 17.0

Crop-dusting.................................. 4,210 6.9 4,960 7.5 5,100 6.7 7,200 6.9

For-hire......................... ... 2,060 3.4 2,030 3.1 3,200 4.2 7,200 6.9

Patrol and survey flying............. 1,580 2.6 1,810 2.7 2,000 2.6 3,500 3.2

Instructional ..................................... 4,720 7.7 5,680 8.5 6,000 7.9 8,900 8.5

Test, ferry, and o th e r...................... 690 1.1 670 1.0 700 .9 1,050 1.0

Pleasure ........................................... 29,350 48.0 29,850 44.9 30,350 39.8 29,900 28.5

4*4*

N ote: B ecau se of rounding, sum of individual items may not equal to tals.

Sources: 1954: Based on The Airplane at Work For Business and Industry, op. cit.

1957: General Aviation Aircraft Use: 1957, (FAA), op. cit.

I960: Business and Pleasure Aircraft and 1970 Total Aircraft: Project Horizon, op. cit.

1970: Total Aircraft: Based on FAA Statistical Handbook of Civil Aviation, 1961 ed.

Other I960 and 1970 data: BLS estimates.

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Table A-2. General aviation aircraft, by segment and type of aircraft, actual 1954 and 1957,

estimated I960 and 1970

Segment

Single-Engine Multiengine Helicopters and other aircraft

1954 1957 1960 1970 1954 1957 I960 1970 1954 1957 I960 1970

All segments . . 58,240 60,650 68,035 88,000 2,640 5,370 7,670 14,000 300 500 645 3,000

Business................... 16,480 17,220 22,650 35,000 2,080 4,240 6,250 11,300 10 60 100 950

Com m ercial............. 7,510 7,860 9,050 14,500 240 750 1,000 2,200 100 190 250 1,200

Crop-dusting . . 4,180 4,890 5,000 6,900 10 30 50 150 20 40 50 150

For-hire. ..... 1,900 1,440 2,350 5,300 140 530 750 1,600 20 60 100 300

Patrol and

survey flying . 1,430 1,530 1,700 2,300 90 190 200 450 60 90 100 750

Instructional............. 4,670 5,590 5,880 8,700 50 60 70 100 — 30 50 100

Test, ferry, and

o th e r...................... 510 460 455 700 90 180 200 300 90 30 45 50

P leasu re................... 29,070 29,520 30,000 29,100 180 140 150 100 100 190 200 700

Source: 1954: The Airplane at Work For Business and Industry, op. cit.

1957: General Aviation Aircraft Use: 1957, op. cit.

I960: Based on FAA Statistical Handbook of Civil Aviation, op. cit.

1970: Totals, Project Horizon, op. cit.

Other 1970 data: BLS estimates.

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Table A-3. Percent distribution of general aviation aircraft, by segment,

actual 1954 and 1957, and estimated I960

1954 1957 i 960

Segment Total Singleengine

Multiengine

Helicopters and

other

aircraft

Total Singleengine

Multiengine

Helicop- .

ters and

other

aircraft

Total Singleengine

Multiengine

Helicopters and

other

aircraft

Business................ 100.0 88.7 11.2 0.1 100.0 80.0 19.7 0.3 100.0 78.1 21.6 0.3

Commercial .... 100.0 95.7 3.1 1.3 100.0 89.3 8.5 2.2 100.0 87.9 9.7 2.4

Instructional . . . 100.0 98.9 1.1 - 100.0 98.4 1.1 0.5 100.0 98.0 1.2 0.8

Test, ferry,

and other .... 100.0 73.9 13.0 13.0 100.0 68.7 26.9 4.5 100.0 65.0 28.6 6.4

P leasu re................ 100.0 99.0 <\6 ;.3 100.0 98.9 .5 .6 100.0 98.8 .5 .7

Note: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal 100 percent,

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A PPEN D IX B.

Selected Bibliography

I. Federal Government Publications

A. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

"A-Case Study of an Automatic Airline Reservation System,” Studies o f Automatic

Technology. BLS Report 137, 1959-

"The Labor Month in Review,” Monthly Labor Review, June 1962, pp. 1II-IV.

"C ivil Aviation,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 1963-64, 6th ed. BLS Bulletin 

1375, pp. 353-573.

B. U.S. Department of Commerce, Civil Aeronautics Administration 

The Airplane at Work for B usiness and Industry. December 1955.

Civil Air Traffic F orecast, 1960-65. August 1955.

Civil Aviation and F ederal Airways F orecasts, 1960-65-70. December 1956. 

General Aviation Aircraft Use, 1957. September 1959.

C. Federal Aviation Agency

Aircraft In Agriculture, 1960. September 1962.

Aviation F orecasts, F isc a l Years 1963-1968. November 1962.

"Bright Future Seen For U.S. Business and Private Flying,” Aviation News,

May 1961, p. 1.

Estim ated Air Traffic Workload, F isc a l Year 1961.

F A A Statistical Handbook o f Aviation, 1961 ed.

Number o f Major Aeronautical F a cilities and Services and Other Data, Dec. 31, 

1961.

P roject Hummingbird, The H elicopter and Other Vertical and Short T akeoff Landing Aricraft in Commercial Transport Service, Nov. I960.

Report o f the Task Force on Air Traffic Control, P roject B eacon, October 1961.

Report o f the Task Force on National Aviation G oals, P roject Horizon, September 

1961.

S elected Characteristics o f U.S. Air Carrier, General Aviation and Military Flying

Activity, Annex to P roject Horizon, November 1961.

Statistical Study o f U.S. Civil Aircraft, July 1961.

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Summary Five Year Budget Program, 1964,-68, May 1963.

"Supersonic Transport Research Moves Ahead," Aviation N ew s, May 1962, p. 7.

The Government’s Role In Aviation in the S ixties. An address by General E. R. 

Quesada, FAA Administrator, Nov. 17, 1960, before the National Press Club.

D. Civil Aeronautics Board

F orecast o f Airline Passenger^ Traffic in the U - S 1959-65. December 1959. 

General C haracteristics o f Turbine-Powered Aircraft. February I960.

Handbook o f Airline S tatistics, 1962 ed . October 1962.

E. The Congress of the United States

Contemporary and Future Aeronautical R esearch. Hearings before the Committee 

on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, 87th Cong., 1st sess., 

August 1,2,3, and 8, 1961.

The Airlines Industry. Report of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Committee on 

the Judiciary (U.S. House of Representatives, 85th Cong., 1st sess., Report 1328, 

Apr. 5, 1957).

"Uniform System of Accounts and Reports for Certificated Route Air Carriers,"

The F ederal R egister, Pt. II, Vol. 26, No. 93, Doc. 61-4306, May 16, 1961.

F. Other Government Publications

National Requirements for Aviation F acilities, 1956-75—F orecasts o f Aviation

A ctivity. Pt, IV, Report Prepared by the Aeronautical Research Foundation for 

Edward P. Curtis, Special Assistant to the President for Aviation Planning,

June 1957,

II. Books and Reports

Richard F . Caves, Air Transport and Its Regulators. Harvard University Press, 

Cambridge, Mass., 1962.

John Frederick, Commercial Air Transportation, 5th ed. Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 

Homewood, 111., 1961

Harold H. Wein, Domestic Air Cargo: Its P rospects, Occasional Paper No. 7, 

Graduate School of Business Administration, Michigan State University, East 

Lansing, Mich., 1962.

F acts and Figures About Air Transportation, 24th ed. Air Transport Association 

of America, Washington, D. C., 1963»

F orecast o f the O verseas Air P assen ger Market Through New York, 1965-75. 

Forecast and Analysis Division, Port of New York Authority, New York, N. Y .,

May 1958.

John B. Lansing, Interim Report on the 1960 National Travel Market Survey. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., June I960.

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Report on Air Taxi Operations for the Period October 1960-September 1961, 

National Air Taxi Conference, Washington, D.C., October 1961.

The Big Grab, The Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, New York,

N. Y., 1962.

Paul Cherrington, The Domestic Market For Air Transportation—A Study o f Problems and P oten tials, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, New Haven, 

Conn., July 1962.

The Economic Implications o f the Introduction Into Service o f Long Range J e t

Aircraft. International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal, Canada, June 1958.

Frederic P. Kimball, The Other Side, Scandanavian Airlines System, Jamaica,

N. Y., September 1961.

Walter Adams, The Structure o f American Industry, 3d ed., Macmillan Company, 

New York, N. Y. 1961, Ch. XIII, pp. 468-508.

The Technical, Economic and Social C onsequences o f the Introduction into Comm ercial Service o f Supersonic Aircraft. International Civil Aviation Organization, 

Montreal, Canada, August I960.

World Air Transport S tatistics, Year 1961. International Air Transport Association, Montreal, Canada, 1962.

III. Periodical Articles

A erospace. Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc., Washington, D.C. 

"General Aviation Sees Decade of Growth," April 1961.

"Travel Shortcut," August 1961.

"Turbine Fleet Flies 50% of Passengers," December 1961.

A irlift. American Aviation Publications, Inc.. Washington, D.C.

"Air Taxi Fleet Doubles In Five Y ears," May 1961, pp. 108-110.

"A t Long Last, Cargo Tops a B illion," May 1961, pp. 52-55.

"Coach To Eclipse 1st Class in 1961," May 1961, p. 58.

"Helicopters Make Big Bid To Grab Share of Traffic," April 1959, pp. 31-32. 

"U .S. Profile of an SST ," January 1961, pp. 22-23.

Aviation Week and Space Technology, McGraw-Hill, New York, N. Y.

"Airlines Beginning to Probe Mass Market," May 1, 1961, pp. 38-39.

"Airlines Fear Haste of Mach 3 Transport," Dec. 11, 1961, p. 38.

"Airlines in Transition," May 1, 1961, p. 21.

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"Air Taxi Operator Reports Traffic Gains,” May 15, 1961 pp. 129-130.

"American Airlines Reveals Data From Extensive Market Surveys,” Feb. 26, 

1962, p. 47.

"Atlantic Bookings Fall Behind Jet Capacity,” May 1, 1961, pp. 40-41.

"CA B Faced with Vital Merger Decision,” Jan. 29, 1962, pp. 36-38.

"CAB to Settle Role of Helicopter Services,” Oct. 23, 1961, p. 36.

"C ivil Helicopter Fleet Shows Expansion,” Feb. 12, 1962, pp. 95, 97, and 99 

"C L-44 Expanding Cargo Carriers'* Market/* Nov. 20, 1961, p. 72. 

"Competition Cuts U.S. Share of Traffic,** Aug. 15, I960, pp. 40-42.

"Douglas 2086 Fate Hinges on 125 Orders** Apr. 16, 1962, p. 40.

"FAA Enters Je t Crew Complement Fight,** June 18, 1962, p. 20-21.

"FAA to Probe Finances of Supplemental,** Jan. 22, 1962, pp. 45-46. 

"Fourth Jet Crewman Will Cost $14 million in 1962, ALPA Told,” June 11,

1962, p. >2.

" J e t Advent Stresses Ground Handling Lag,** May 1, 1961, pp. 151-152.

"Light-Twin Carrier Gains Public Approval,** July 23, 1962, pp. 28-29.

"L o s Angeles Airways Expands with S—6 ls ,” Apr. 10, 1961, pp. 42-44.

"National Product Keys Passenger Growth,** Feb. 29, I960, pp. 38-39.

"New Blind Landing Aid is Demonstrated,** Sept. 14, 1962, p. 44.

"Probes to Shape Status of Supplemental,** Nov. 20, 1961, pp. 37-38.

"Shuttle Provides Big Competitive Boost,** Apr. 9, 1962, p. 39*

"Study Finds Convenience of Auto Lures Many from Airline Travel,** Nov. 13, 

1961, p. 49.

"Supplemental Face Strict Renewal Policy,** Aug. 27, 1962, pp. 38-39. 

"Survey Questions Auto Traffic Potential,** July 16, 1962, p. 44.

Business Week. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York 

"Are Airlines Going the Way of Railroads?** Nov. 18, 1961, p. 91.

" J e t Earns Money Around The Clock,** Aug. 22, 1959, pp. 62-65.

"Putting Small Cities on Air Map/* Jan. 13, 1962, pp. 109-110.

"T h is Way To The Roof Saves Time/* July 7, 1962, pp. 59-60.

"Turbine Power Speeds the Company Plane/* Oct. 7, 1961, pp. 80-84.

Clipper Cargo H orizons, Pan American World Airways, New York, N. Y. 

"Containers Simplify Air Cargo Handling Around the World/* Apr. 1962, p. 1.

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" Automated Terminals To Speed Air Cargo Breakthrough?" Jan. 1961, p. 1.

Delta D igest, Delta Airlines, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.

"Airfreight 1961: Is The * Break through- Near? " Nov. 1961, pp. 6-8.

"What Is An Airline? " July 1962, p. 14.

The Journal o f Air Law and Commerce, School of Law, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Tex.

"Projections of Flight Crew Employment by U.S. Scheduled Airlines, 1961 

and 1965," Winter I960, p. 45.

"Projections of Flight Personnel Employment, I9 6 0 ," Winter 1958, pp. 76-78.

The New York Times

"Air Taxi Test On In New England," June 1, 1962, p. 54.

"Airline Merger Would Cut Jo b s," Mar. 26, 1962, p. 50.

"Business Planes Log Many Hours," Mar. 6, I960, Sec. 3, p. 25.

" Je ts Reduce Jobs For Flight Crews," Nov. 6, I960, p. 90.

"New Patterns In The Sky," Feb. 4, 1962, p. 1.

"Non-Skeds Have Grown Up," Feb. 15, 1959, Sec. 2, p. 23.

"Supersonic Trips Held 15 Years O ff," Sept. 23, 1961, p. 62.

"TWA Navigators Await Flight to Oblivion," Sept. 1, 1962, p. 87.

The Shield, United Airlines, Inc., Chicago, 111.

"Background To Merger," April 1961, p. 4.

"Potential Air Travelers??? " August 1962, pp. 3,4.

Wall Street Journal

"More Big Firms Fly Their Company Planes on Regular Schedules," July 19, 

1963, p. 1.

"Concerns Buy Business Jets to Save Time, Cut Operational Costs and Build 

P restige," Jan. 13, I960, p. 26.

Other P eriodicals

"A Look At General Aviation," Sperry scope, Sperry Rand Corp., New York, N.Y. 

First Quarter 1961, p. 12.

"Business Plane Sales Fly High," S teel, The Penton Publishing Co., Cleveland, 

Ohio, May 29, 1961, pp. 40-41.

"CAB Regulation of International Aviation," Harvard Law Review, Cambridge, 

Mass., Vol. 75, 1962, pp. 575-589.

"T h e Crisis Behind the Transportation Mergers," Saturday R eview, Saturday 

Review Corp., New York, April 14, 1962, p. 68.

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"D elta Air Lines Installs SABRE System," B usiness Automation, O.A. Business Publications, Elmhurst, 111., September 1961, p. 70.

"Domestic Air Transport P olicy," Econom ica, The London School of Economics and Political Science, Aldwych, London, May 1961, pp. 156-175.

"Eastern’s Air-Shuttle," Shell Aviation News, Shell Oil Co., Ltd., New York,

N. Y., No. 281, 1961, pp. 11-14.

"Fourth Man Out—Background of the Flight Engineer—Airline Pilot Conflict," 

Labor Law Journal, Commerce Clearing House, Chicago, 111., Aug. 1962, 

pp. 649-57.

"Jet-Propelled Cargoes," Barron's. New York, N. Y ., Mar. 13, 1961, pp. 5-6.

"A Look at General Aviation" . . . (per p. 67)

"Mohawk Enters The Je t Age," Air C hief, Mohawk Airlines, Inc., Utica, N. Y., 

July 1962, pp. 1-4.

"Sked Versus Non-Sked," The Air Line D ispatcher, The Air Line Dispatchers 

Association, Washington, D.C., November 1961, p. 2.

"T h e Commercial Supersonic Transport—Some Operational Consideration,"

E sso Air World, Esso International Inc., New York, N. Y ., July-August 1961,

pp. 8-17.

"T h e Crisis Behind The Transportation Mergers," Saturday R eview, Saturday 

Review Corp., New York, N.Y., April 14, 1962, pp. 1966.

"The SST: Next Stop To Instant Travel," Fortune, Time, Inc., New York, N.Y., 

June 1961, pp. 161 ff.

"What To Do Till The Passengers Come?" The Morgan Guaranty Survey,

Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., New York, N.Y., Apr. 14, 1962, pp. 19 ff.

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Appendix C.

Glossary

Active aircraft. Aircraft which have been issued valid airworthiness certificates by the FAA and 

are available for service.

Air carrier. See certificated airline.

Air co ach . Transport service established for the carriage of passengers with fares and quality 

of service below that of first-class service, but higher than, or superior to, the level of economy 

service.

A irlines. See certificated airline.

Air-taxi operator. Aii air carrier operating small, light aircraft (under 12,500 pounds) which engages in a wide variety of nonscheduled and scheduled transportation services with no necessarily fixed routes.

Air traffic control center. A site from which aircraft are directed as they move between airport 

vicinities.

All-cargo line. A certificated route carrier primarily engaged in the transportation of freight and 

express cargo. It may carry passengers on a nonscheduled basis.

Business flying. The use of company-owned or leased aircraft to transport executives and other 

personnel or cargo in the conduct of a business.

Cargo ton-mile. One ton of freight or express flown 1 mile.

C ertificated airline. A common air carrier, permitted by the CAB to operate under a certificate 

of public convenience and necessity, which flies passengers, freight, express, and sometimes, 

mail using certificated aircraft with no necessarily fixed route or schedule.

C ertificated route airlines. A certificated airline which provides scheduled operations for 

passengers, mail, freight, and express over specified routes.

C ertificated supplemental airlines. A certificated airline, operating under unlimited interstate 

charter rights to provide transportation service to persons and property, and military plane load 

contract flights with certain backhaul civil charter rights. May engage in limited transportation 

of individually ticketed passengers, individually waybilled cargo, and overseas and foreign 

charter service.

Charter flying service. An air transport service which gives the party or organization receiving 

the transportation exclusive use of the aircraft.

Civil aircraft. Nonmilitary air vehicles, including airplanes, helicopters, gliders, balloons, and 

dirigibles.

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Coach air transportation, See Air coach.

Commercial flying, Passenger and cargo transportation for-hire (exclusive of airline service), 

crop dusting, and patrol and survey flying.

Crop-dusting, The use of aircraft to distribute chemicals or seeds upon land or crops.

Domestic trunk airlin es, The group of certificated route airlines that operate primarily with the 

geographical limits of the 48 conterminous States of the United States over routes serving primarily the larger communities.

E x cess baggage revenue ton-mile, One ton of passenger baggage in excess of a free weight 

allowance flown 1 mile.

Express ton-mile. One ton of property flown one mile under tariffs filed on the basis of agreements between REA express and the airlines.

Ferry flying. The movement of aircraft from manufacturer to distributors and dealers, from 

seller to buyer, or for maintenance or other nonrevenue purposes.

For-hire operator. The operator of an aircraft who makes himself and his aircraft available for 

any flying service.

Freight ton-mile. One ton of property, other than express, flown 1 mile.

General aviation. All civil flying except that done by the airlines.

Instructional flying. Flight training of civilians in dual and solo flying under an instructors 

supervision.

Independent certificated repair station. An establishment licensed by the FAA to perform repair 

and maintenance services on aircraft, excluding establishments operated by the FAA or an airline.

Irregular carrier. See Certificated supplemental airline.

L oad factor. The number of revenue passenger-miles or revenue ton-miles flown, divided by the 

available capacity.

L ocal service airlines. The group of certificated route airlines that operate within the United 

States along routes of lesser density between the smaller traffic centers and between those 

centers and principal cities.

On-line passenger trip length. The length of a passenger trip calculated by dividing the number 

of revenue passenger-miles by the number of revenue passenger originations.

Operation, An aircraft arrival or departure from an airport.

P assen ger seat-m ile. The seating capacity for one passenger flown 1 mile.

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Patrol and survey flying. The use of a moving aircraft as an elevated observation point for the 

human eye, cameras, or electronic devices.

Pleasure flying. The use of an aircraft for a variety of personal uses.

Revenue passenger-m ile. One paying passenger transported 1 mile.

Revenue passenger originations. The unduplicated count of passengers originating journeys on 

the lines of each reporting entity with the return portion of a round trip counted separately as an 

initial origination.

Route m iles. The shortest distance of travel over authorized flight paths, by which all operated 

points on a carrier’s operation could be served.

Scheduled airline. See certificated route airline.

Scheduled freight and express ton-mile. One ton of freight or express flown one mile in 

scheduled service.

Scheduled revenue passenger-m ile. One revenue passenger-mile flown in scheduled service.

Shuttle serv ice. Air transportation of passengers with no reservations necessary, provided on a 

high-frequency basis between city pairs.

Supersonic transport plane (SST). A commercial airplane capable of flying in excess of the speed 

of sound.

Supplemental airline. See certificated supplemental airline.

T est flying. Flights of new aircraft by the manufacturer, and of other aircraft in connection with 

inspection, maintenance, and installation of equipment.

Trunk airline. See Domestic trunk airline.

Utilization rate. The number of hours that an aircraft is used during the course of a year.

Vi eight load factor. The percent that total revenue ton-miles (passenger plus nonpassenger) are 

of available ton-miles in revenue services, representing the proportion of the overall capacity 

that is actually sold and utilized.

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