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American airlines will receive $ 15 billion in additional federal aid to pay their workers under the $ 900 billion coronavirus relief deal that lawmakers agreed to on Sunday, calling on staff that was suspended earlier this year.
More than 32,000 airline workers were laid off after $ 25 billion was exhausted in March by the CARES Act to cover the payroll of passenger airlines on September 30.
When it expired, unions and airlines urged lawmakers to pass additional help, but Congress and the White House could not agree on a new plan.
The new support for the sector will keep airline workers on payroll until the end of March and will reimburse them retroactively until December 1, according to Reuters.
In a message to employees, American Airlines said it expected to deliver the checks to employees on Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, airlines have pressured workers to retire early or be terminated from contracts in an effort to shed staff and cut losses.
The aid package also stipulates that air service requirements that expired at the end of September must be resumed.
Routes to smaller cities must once again fly until at least March 31. Many small airports saw service cut by airlines as unsustainable in today’s travel environment.
The airlines are believed to have requested an additional $ 10 billion to match the aid they received in March, but were disappointed.
When the first aid package expired, there had only been a small recovery in passenger numbers and since then there has been a decline in bookings as new cases of coronavirus increased.
Air travel is currently less than half the level it was a year ago based on the number of passengers checked by security.
In addition to helping airlines, the new stimulus bill includes $ 1 billion for airline contractors, $ 2 billion for airports and airport providers, $ 14 billion for transit, $ 10 billion for state highways, $ 1 billion for Amtrak and $ 2 billion for private buses, schools. Bus and ferry companies.
News about the contents of the stimulus relief package comes amid calls to halt services to and from the UK due to the spread of the Covid-19 variant of the virus that is more easily transmissible.
British Airways and Delta Air Lines have agreed to carry only passengers to New York who can present a negative Covid-19 test prior to flights departing from London Heathrow.
