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The
Senate Commerce Committee will hear from the chief executives of
American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, as
well as the chief of operations for Delta Air Lines and the head
of a large flight attendants unions. Others like JetBlue Airways
and Alaska Air Group are submitting written statements.
"It's not an exaggeration to say the program saved the airline
industry," American CEO Doug Parker will say.
Senator Maria Cantwell, the committee chair, pressed airline
CEOs to take part in the oversight hearing after she sent major
carriers letters about reports of workforce shortages,
significant flight cancellations, and delays.
Lawmakers are expected to quiz executives about how carriers
used pandemic-related federal bailout funds, staffing issues and
other matters.
Congress approved $54 billion in three rounds covering much of
U.S. airline payroll costs for 18 months.
Cantwell will call the payroll support program (PSP) a "historic
investment to sustain a critical sector of the U.S. economy by
ensuring airlines had funding to continue paying their
employees," her office said, adding "PSP saved the jobs and
livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers across the U.S.
airline industry."
Airlines, in written testimony first reported by, say they are
aggressively hiring and defended the assistance. They warn
COVID-19 remains a drag on demand and below 2019 levels.
"The Omicron variant has created further uncertainty, and there
is no clear consensus on when business and international travel
will return," Delta's John Laughter will say.
Many other countries' aviation COVID-19 assistance required a
higher percentage of funds repayment, while other U.S.
industries did not get the same government financial support.
U.S. airlines spurned conditions some lawmakers sought to add
like cutting carbon emissions.
Out of $54 billion, airlines must repay $14 billion, or 26.2%,
and Treasury holds warrants currently worth approximately $200
million, a Commerce Committee memo says. Treasury also extended
$25 billion in low-cost government loans to carriers.
The memo said payroll assistance "enabled the United States to
outperform Europe and Asia in terms of an air travel recovery
following the pandemic."
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight
Attendants-CWA, said in written testimony airline "staffing is
above pre-pandemic levels if compared to the number of flight
hours airlines are flying. But aviation workers are not as
willing to pick up overtime due to the combative passengers and
concerns around COVID."
Airlines for America, an industry trade group, told the
committee that without the assistance "airlines undoubtedly
would have reduced capacity commensurate with the drop in
passenger traffic to avoid a steep drop in load factor."
The group estimates "that approximately 50,000 airline employees
opted for early retirement or voluntary separation."
Airlines accepting government assistance that funded payroll
costs through Sept. 30 were prohibited from furloughs or firing
workers and faced limits on executive compensation and bans on
stock buybacks and dividends.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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