Thousands Of Airline Workers Facing Unemployment As Aid Package Stalls In Congress

Among the many things that have been radically changed by the coronavirus pandemic is the airline industry. Air travel demand is down a whopping 70% from last year, according to the industry group Airlines for America, and now the clock is ticking for tens of thousands of pilots, flight attendants, reservation agents and other airline employees, who will likely lose their jobs on Oct. 1, if Congress doesn’t extend federal aid for the airlines.

There is bipartisan support for an extension but the airline relief is stalled by the inability of Congress and the White House to agree on a broader coronavirus aid package.

The CARES act, passed and signed into law in March, provided $25 billion in direct payroll support to the airlines so they could keep paying their employees through the end of September. A provision of the law prohibited the airlines accepting the aid from laying off or involuntarily furloughing workers. But now at the end of that bridge, various airlines have notified more than 75,000 employees they could be out of a job next week.