Airlines are a rising source of carbon pollution. (Photo by Daniel Eledut on Unsplash)

Don’t Give Unconditional Bailout to Polluting Airline Industry

Coronavirus crisis shouldn’t be used to ignore climate crisis

The coronavirus is rapidly changing virtually every aspect of American life — and plummeting reservations show that airline travel is no exception.

The Trump administration has already suggested it will bail out the oil and gas industry. It has now said that airlines are “number one” in line to receive federal money. An airline industry lobbying group recently requested a bailout package worth more than $50 billion, and the White House seems ready to grant one.

That’s a lot of money to give companies that raked in massive profits in recent years while ruthlessly exploiting many workers and refusing to curb their planet-warming pollution.

In moments of crisis, people often make rash decisions. But the Trump White House and Congress must not exploit COVID-19 to give the airline industry a blank check. An unconditional bailout would let the industry continue its pattern of worker exploitation and dangerous pollution.

Instead, financial aid to airlines must protect people over planes. It should create a safety net for airline workers in crisis. And it must require the airlines to curb pollution to ensure a livable climate for us all.

Airplanes emit a staggering amount of pollution. In 2015 — a year in which the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics says the industry raked in $25 billion in profit — airplanes accounted for 11 percent of America’s transportation-related carbon emissions.

If aviation were a country, it would be the sixth biggest emitter in the world, between Japan and Germany. Yet the industry has so far avoided any meaningful regulation of its dangerous emissions.

This cannot continue. The world’s leading scientists agree that to avert the most disastrous effects of the climate crisis, we must cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. This target will be impossible to meet if a shortsighted response to a disaster locks us into a future full of greenhouse gases.

A bailout must be conditioned on two key actions to curb airplane pollution.

First, the Environmental Protection Agency must fulfill its duty under the Clean Air Act to set clear standards for airplane emissions. The EPA has a clear legal duty to do so, yet for years has failed to make the required regulations. Any bailout must be conditioned on the agency issuing emission standards for new and in-service aircraft within 18 months.

Second, an absolute cap should be placed on U.S. airline industry emissions. Congress should cap total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. airplanes at 2020 levels and mandate that overall emissions fall at least 20 percent per decade — starting now.

An efficiency standard and absolute emission cap will result in real, tangible pollution reductions, unlike emission offsets, which invite dubious accounting practices and come with a history of promoting destructive farming practices and violating indigenous peoples’ rights.

Greenhouse gas pollution reductions will benefit us all immeasurably down the line. And right now, any bailout of the airline industry must also directly benefit impacted workers. During this crisis, airline workers and their families face a frighteningly uncertain future. This could compromise their access to healthcare and ability to buy basic necessities.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, has stressed that federal assistance must come with “strict rules.” These include guaranteed pay and benefits for employees, and no taxpayer money for CEO bonuses, stock buybacks or dividends. Airlines must also not be allowed to break existing labor contracts through bankruptcy.

These prospects are not far-fetched: During the 2010s boom, airlines spent virtually all of their cash on hand on stock buybacks. We must ensure the same does not happen to taxpayer dollars intended to bolster an industry on which thousands of workers rely for a paycheck.

During the uncertain months ahead, airline workers should be able to count on their government for the emergency support they need. And as we look toward an uncertain future for the climate, it’s equally important we take steps to curb the massive pollution that the airline industry produces.

If the airline industry cannot agree to reasonable measures to protect workers and the broader community, it should not receive taxpayer dollars. Public money must be used for the public good.

Clare Lakewood is legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.