LONDON – On Tuesday, American Airlines announced that they have hired about 21,000 employees in 2021, but their workforce is still 7.7% below the pre-pandemic 2019 total.

According to the air carrier’s 2021 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company had about 123,400 active full-time employees as of December 31, which is an increase of about 20% compared to 2020, when AA had about 103,000 active employees.

But the 2021 numbers are still a bit behind the 2019 numbers when AA had about 134,000 employees.

The employee salaries, wages, and benefits have also been announced.

The numbers of 2021 totaled $1182 billion, which is representing about 45% of the passenger revenue, which is an increase of about 5.2% from $11.23 billion, or 77.3% of passenger revenue in 2020.

In 2019, the salaries, wages, and benefits numbered a total of $12.61 billion, or 30% of passenger revenue.