A Covid relief package to provide $17 billion for four months of payroll support to the US Airlines has been passed. It is a part of the $908 billion bipartisan Senate COVID-19 relief proposal, a spokeswoman for Senator Mark Warner said Tuesday.
The Bill will provide much needed support to beleaguered airlines which have lost more than $36 billion in 2020. The passenger airline traffic remains down by more than 60% in US.
In October, American Airlines and United Airlines had to put more than 32,000 workers on furlough.
The airlines industry had been looking for an additional six months’ aid, or $25 bilion, after an earlier $25 billion payroll assistance program expired.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney said, “It’s simply unacceptable for us not to respond to help in this circumstance. The only time to borrow money is in a crisis, and this is a crisis.”
US airlines say they are pleased with the proposal and look forward to movement in the discussions.
“We appreciate the bipartisan group of senators who pro-actively negotiated the framework for a much-needed, comprehensive relief package for our country which would include provisions intended to help airlines make payroll and protect the jobs of our industry’s hardworking employees,” writes Airlines for America (A4A) chief executive Nicholas Calio.
Faye Malarkey Black, chief executive of the Regional Airline Association (RAA) said, “We are grateful that today’s package includes a partial extension of the highly successful Payroll Support Program, which supports airline workers by keeping them on payroll, where they are needed to serve hundreds of smaller communities who rely on them for air service,”.
This announcement of the relief package comes as a good news as the earlier negotiations at deciding the relief package had been stalled due to different amounts that the two opposing parties were willing to provide. Democrats advocated a $2.2 trillion extension while Republicans were only willing to approve about one quarter of that.
Komal is an English literature student with a keen interest in economic developments and politics amongst others. She is a part of Research & Content team at HrNxt.com