Air Transportation

Types of Degrees Air Transportation Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many air transportation graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	5,702
Associate Degree	1,828
Basic Certificate	1,535
Master’s Degree	669
Undergraduate Certificate	222
Doctor’s Degree	20
Graduate Certificate	8

What Air Transportation 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

This major prepares you for careers in which these 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

air transport majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• 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 a air transport major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• 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 Transportation 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 Transportation?

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 tends to be male dominated. About 87% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	240
Black or African American	345
Hispanic or Latino	588
White	3,541
International Students	460
Other Races/Ethnicities	528

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Air Transport, too. About 8.1% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• Saudi Arabia
• South Korea
• Turkey
• Japan

How Much Do Air Transportation Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The median starting salary of students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a bachelor’s degree in air transport was $44,734 per year. These stats come from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $40,258 (25th percentile) and $48,402 (75th percentile).

Note that some of these people may have jobs that are not directly related to a air transport degree.

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $56,760 to $120,830 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to air transport. This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Air Transportation

Some degrees associated with air transport may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. 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 Transportation Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 232 schools offered some type of air transportation program. 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)	43	3
Certificate (2-4 Years)	3	0
Associate’s Degree	180	11
Bachelor’s Degree	10	5
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	22	10
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	8	6
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Air Transportation Worth It?

The median salary for a air transport grad is $96,530 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 142% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,132,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Air Transportation

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

Major	Number of Grads
Ground Transportation	17,893
Marine Transportation	1,203
Other Transportation & Materials Moving	4

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.