Air Transport

Types of Degrees Air Transport Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many air transportation graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	6,511
Associate Degree	1,665
Basic Certificate	1,283
Master’s Degree	725
Undergraduate Certificate	180
Graduate Certificate	50
Doctor’s Degree	31

What Air Transport Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to air transport were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Air Transport Majors

Air Transport majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Air Transport Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to air transport:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.

Abilities for Air Transport Majors

As you progress with your air transport degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Air Transport Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with air transport:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Air Traffic Controllers	3.6%	$124,540
Airfield Operations Specialists	9.0%	$52,200
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	3.5%	$140,340
Commercial Pilots	3.7%	$82,240
Flight Attendants	10.2%	$56,000
Logistics Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Storage and Distribution Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Transportation Managers	6.8%	$94,730

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Air Transport?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 5,683 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in air transportation in 2021, making it rank #74 in popularity. This major attracts more men than women. About 85% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of air transport majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	275
Black or African American	356
Hispanic or Latino	698
White	3,989
International Students	591
Other Races/Ethnicities	602

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Air Transport. About 9.1% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Air Transport

Some careers associated with air transport require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to air transport have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.7%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	22.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	11.8%
Some College Courses	7.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	15.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	35.0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.8%
Master’s Degree	3.2%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.2%

Online Air Transport Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	46	2
Certificate (2-4 Years)	4	0
Associate’s Degree	185	7
Bachelor’s Degree	15	6
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	30	18
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	8	5
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Air Transport

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to air transport.

Major	Number of Grads
Ground Transportation	24,115
Marine Transportation	1,173
Other Transportation & Materials Moving	18

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.