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Nov. 09--US Airways Inc. said Monday it is adding 80 pilots and 420 flight attendants in coming months, offering further indication that airline employment may have hit bottom.
The most recent Bureau of Transportation Statistics numbers showed that the airline industry had 377,800 jobs in August, down 1.7 percent from the previous August.
But the year-over-year declines in full-time equivalent jobs are leveling off, with August's decline the smallest in more than two years.
A number of carriers have announced they'll be adding workers in 2010 and 2011 as they pull back from their sharp cuts in capacity and employment that began in the second half of 2008.
American Airlines Inc. said Oct. 6 it is bringing back 545 flight attendants and 250 pilots by early 2011, and Delta Air Lines Inc. in recent months has said it needs 1,000 more flight attendants and about that number of airport workers.
Some carriers already are showing small gains in jobs. AirTran Holdings Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp. and Southwest Airlines Co. all reported more jobs on Sept. 30 than a year earlier.
According to the BTS numbers, US Airways had 29,400 jobs in August, down from 30,600 in August 2009 and 32,300 in August 2008.
US Airways said that after calling back employees on furlough or voluntary leave, it expects to have no flight attendants on its furlough list, with no more than 100 pilots remaining on furlough.
"This is great news for our workforce and the communities we serve," US Airways president Scott Kirby said.
"Our crew member hiring needs are being driven primarily by planned retirements and attrition, as well as international growth," he said.
In an internal message, Kirby said the majority of the additional jobs will work in the carrier's East Coast operations.