WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate will vote on Wednesday to give the U.S. air travel market $58 billion in help, half in the form of grants to cover some 750,000 workers’ paychecks, in a terribly needed lifeline for a market facing the worst travel slump in history.
American Airlines traveler aircrafts crowd a runway where they are parked due to flight decreases to slow the spread of coronavirus illness (COVID-19), at Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. March 23,2020 REUTERS/Nick Oxford
A draft text for a $2 trillion financial rescue offer seen by Reuters would provide passenger airlines $25 billion in grants and $25 billion in loans, freight providers another $8 billion in loans and grants, and specialists like caterers as much as $3 billion in grants.
” This is not a corporate bailout; it’s a rescue plan for employees,” said Association of Flight Attendants Sara Nelson, who spearheaded the concept of direct payroll grants for workers ranging from janitorial personnel and gate representatives to mechanics and pilots.
Reuters reported Chao worked the phones late into the night speaking to air carriers about what they needed to guarantee they might maintain payrolls, a person briefed on call on Tuesday