National Aviation Day 2025

On a cold December morning in 1903, the Wright brothers made a 12-second flight that would change the world. In 1939, Orville Wright’s birthday, August 19, was officially designated National Aviation Day.

U.S. airlines alone moved 2.7 million passengers and 61,000 tons of cargo daily on 27,000 scheduled flights in 2024. As we honor the history and heritage of controlled flight, let’s explore the employment and wages of some aviation professionals who keep things moving in the air.

One of the larger aviation-related occupations is flight attendants—there were about 130,000 in May 2024. There were also more than 99,000 airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers, along with nearly 52,000 commercial pilots. 

Among the occupations with higher annual mean wages were airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers at $280,570. Commercial pilots and air traffic controllers wages were $142,960 and $142,740, respectively. Aircraft cargo handling supervisors, at $66,190, and aircraft service attendants, at $43,630, were among the lower wages in aviation-related occupations.

These data are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. For more information, see the overview of May 2024 occupational employment and wages. Data on passengers, number of flights, and cargo are from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at the U.S. Department of Transportation and include U.S. air carriers only.