The Datum Report

Occupation 8233 · Process, plant and machine operatives

Air transport operatives

Half of full-time air transport operatives in the UK earn more than £34,700 a year, and half earn less.

Air transport operatives refuel, load and unload aircraft, direct the movement of aircraft at airports, and positions gangways or staircases to allow passengers to board and disembark aircraft.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements, though employers may require entrants to possess GCSEs/S grades for some posts. Training is provided Off and on-the-job. Vocational qualifications in Aviation Operations on the Ground at level 2 and 3 and apprenticeships are available.

What the work involves

• refuels aircraft from mobile tankers
• directs the ground movement of aircraft at airports
• responds to emergencies or incidents on the airfield and completes runway inspections
• loads and unloads conveyor belts to transport luggage between terminal buildings and aircraft, monitors conveyor belts and clears any blockages
• loads aircraft with luggage, in-flight meals, refreshments and other items
• operates retractable gangway or positions mobile staircases to enable passengers and crew to board and disembark aircraft
• x-rays cargo and luggage

Also called

Aircraft dispatcher · Baggage handler · Cargo handler (airport) · Controller, airfield · Ground staff (airport) · Ramp agent · Refueller (airport)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for air transport operatives, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 6 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Marine and waterways transport operatives · Other drivers and transport operatives n.e.c. · Rail transport operatives · Train and tram drivers