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Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors: Career Overview

Supervise and coordinate the activities of ground crew in the loading, unloading, securing, and staging of aircraft cargo or baggage. May determine the quantity and orientation of cargo and compute aircraft center of gravity. May accompany aircraft as member of flight crew and monitor and handle cargo in flight, and assist and brief passengers on safety and emergency procedures. Includes loadmasters.

What Tasks Do Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors Perform?

The core tasks performed by aircraft cargo handling supervisors include:

• Determine the quantity and orientation of cargo, and compute an aircraft's center of gravity.
• Direct ground crews in the loading, unloading, securing, or staging of aircraft cargo or baggage.
• Train new employees in areas such as safety procedures or equipment operation.
• Distribute cargo to maximize use of space.

Skills and Knowledge

Successful aircraft cargo handling supervisors combine a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Top Skills

These are the skills most important for this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Top Knowledge Areas

Types of Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors Jobs

This career also goes by job titles like:

• Air Cargo Ground Crew Supervisor
• Air Cargo Ground Operations Supervisor
• Air Cargo Specialist Supervisor
• Air Cargo Supervisor
• Aircraft Loadmaster
• Airfreight Loading Supervisor
• Airport Operations Supervisor
• Airport Ramp Supervisor

How Many Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors Are There?

There are about 1,006,923 aircraft cargo handling supervisors working in the United States today. This occupation is expected to grow by +8.6% over the projection horizon.

Salary for Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$43,243
Hourly median	$20.79
10th percentile	$27,656
25th percentile	$35,450
75th percentile	$51,037
90th percentile	$58,831

Wages vary widely based on experience, location, and industry.

Pay by State

State	Annual median salary
Virginia	$89,210
Indiana	$82,750
Wisconsin	$81,410
Georgia	$79,400
Ohio	$79,300
Utah	$78,990
Missouri	$77,820
Idaho	$77,200
Puerto Rico	$75,530
Tennessee	$75,300
Maryland	$75,170
Colorado	$74,930
Rhode Island	$74,510
Arizona	$74,230
Connecticut	$71,760
Michigan	$71,250
Nevada	$68,840
Florida	$68,250
California	$66,840
North Carolina	$66,190
Texas	$65,850
Hawaii	$64,270
Louisiana	$64,040
New Jersey	$64,000
New York	$63,770
Massachusetts	$63,480
South Carolina	$62,050
New Mexico	$61,420
Alaska	$60,750
Washington	$60,510
Oregon	$58,470
Illinois	$57,610
Pennsylvania	$56,700
Minnesota	$52,480
New Hampshire	$51,410
Montana	$51,280
Iowa	$45,710
Kentucky	$34,150

Where Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors Earn the Most

Pay for aircraft cargo handling supervisors vary by region. The following regions pay the most:

Region	Median annual wage	Share of U.S. jobs	Location quotient
Other U.S. Territories	$75,530	0.9%	1.27
Rocky Mountains	$73,167	4.3%	1.09
Southeast	$71,214	18.8%	0.95
Southwest	$66,933	18.1%	1.34
Far Western US	$65,948	27.2%	1.77
New England	$64,382	3.9%	0.80
Great Lakes	$64,234	11.0%	1.20
Middle Atlantic	$63,214	9.0%	0.58

Top Metro Areas

Metro area	State	Median annual wage	Employment
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	DC	$89,480	110
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	GA	$85,360	160
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	IN	$84,970	50
Columbus, OH	OH	$84,300	40
Kansas City, MO-KS	MO	$82,800	30
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	FL	$82,490	130
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	CA	$80,440	70
Charleston-North Charleston, SC	SC	$77,990	40

Industry Breakdown

Most aircraft cargo handling supervisors are found across these industries:

Industry	Employment	Median annual wage
Transportation and Warehousing	9,960	$63,390
Manufacturing	50	$128,450

The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.

Tech Stack

• Web page creation and editing software: Facebook (hot technology)
• Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel (hot technology)
• Office suite software: Microsoft Office software (hot technology)
• Electronic mail software: Microsoft Outlook (hot technology)
• Word processing software: Microsoft Word (hot technology)

Work Environment

The work environment for aircraft cargo handling supervisors is shaped by the following characteristics:

• E-Mail
• Telephone Conversations
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
• Contact With Others
• Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team

Education and Training

Most aircraft cargo handling supervisors positions require a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.

Other Careers to Consider

Similar Occupations

• Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers (Primary-Long)
• Cargo and Freight Agents (Primary-Long)
• Freight Forwarders (Supplemental)
• Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance (Primary-Long)
• First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers (Supplemental)
• First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (Supplemental)
• First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers (Supplemental)
• First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (Primary-Long)

References

Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 53-1041.00 (Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors).