The chief executives of the seven largest U.S. airlines made a fresh plea for more payroll relief before the end of the year and pointed to the challenges of distributing a COVID-19 vaccine in a letter to Congressional leaders yesterday, Reuters reported. The letter, seen by Reuters, was sent by the main industry lobby Airlines for America and signed by the heads of the top seven U.S. airlines. “As the nation looks forward and takes on the logistical challenges of distributing a vaccine, it will be important to ensure there are sufficient certified employees and planes in service necessary for adequate capacity to complete the task,” they said. U.S. airlines received $25 billion in federal aid to keep employees on payroll between March and September and have asked for a second round of support after cutting tens of thousands of jobs either through furloughs or early retirements in recent months. They have argued that they need trained employees to help service an economic rebound, with the prospects of a vaccine in the coming months underscoring the urgency. The number of travelers that passed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints on Tuesday was down two-thirds from the same day in 2019, an improvement from the start of the pandemic but not enough to bring airlines out of their cash hole, particularly with further lockdowns looming as COVID-19 cases rise. Still, the industry’s aid request has received wide bipartisan support but has so far failed to pass as Congress remains deadlocked over a broader COVID-19 relief and stimulus plan. Read more.
In related news, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said yesterday that U.S. politicians are behaving like children by not passing a new stimulus bill that could help Americans whose income has been wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. “This is childish behavior on the part of our politicians,” Dimon said about an impasse between Democrats and Republicans over how much additional spending should be authorized. The two parties should split the difference between the amounts they want to devote to coronavirus relief, he said. “Just get it done,” he said, declining to blame one side over the other. The issue came up again in Congress on Wednesday, as U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi had formally invited Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans to bipartisan talks on relief legislation. Earlier in the day, McConnell said Congress should aim for agreement on items where there is little disagreement. But he blamed Democrats for blocking earlier Senate Republican efforts to approve spending packages of $500 billion, which Democrats have called inadequate. Read more.
