Delta Air’s workforce increased by about 9,000 jobs in 2021

Delta Air Lines Inc.’s workforce increased by a net 9,000 jobs in 2021, but was still about 9% below prepandemic-2019 levels. The air carrier said in its 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday, that it had 83,000 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2021, including 81,000 in the U.S., up from a total 74,000 at the end of 2020, including 72,000 in the U.S. Delta said that it hired “approximately 11,000” new employees across its business in 2021 as business began to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the company had also cut about 2,000 jobs to achieve a net 9,000 workforce increase. Meanwhile, the workforce total at the end of 2021 was still about 8,000 jobs below the total of 91,000 employees Delta had at the end of 2019. The 2021 job gains came as total operating revenue grew 75% to $29.90 billion, but that was still 36% below the 2019 total of $47.01 billion. Delta’s stock, which rose 1.3% on Monday, has gained 1.6% over the past three months, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF has lost 3.4% and the S&P 500 has dropped 5.8%.

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