(Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Major U.S. airlines are asking for $58 billion in government assistance as flights around the world are canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Airlines for America, a trade group representing industry giants such as American Airlines, United and Delta, have asked for a combination of grants, loans and tax relief for passenger airlines and cargo carriers. Labor unions insist that any stimulus bill must provide protections for workers.

President Donald Trump said Monday he would “back the airlines 100 percent.” On Tuesday the White House signaled it would support an $850 billion stimulus bill that includes a payroll tax cut and loans for small businesses in addition to support for the airline industry.

That ask is significantly more than airlines requested after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, when Congress provided $15 billion in aid to the ailing industry. That package controversially didn’t include protections for workers. Influential Democrats want to make sure that doesn’t happen this time around, but airline labor unions don’t have the same lobbying firepower as industry giants.

The air transport industry spent a record $104 million in 2019, deploying a whopping 811 lobbyists in Washington. Airlines scored a number of policy wins in recent years, including defeating bipartisan legislation to mandate “reasonable and proportional” fees for baggage and changing flights. The 2017 tax bill provided a major boost to the industry, which reaped billions in profits on the backs of controversial fees.

Airlines generally find strong bipartisan support in Congress. The industry isn’t the subject of political battles. It donates similar amounts of campaign cash to lawmakers in both parties. Its top trade group is run by Nicholas Calio, a Republican who has drawn praise from top Democrats.

“What has happened with this pandemic has been debilitating and the deterioration of business has been so rapid that it’s thrown everything into question in terms of the businesses,” Calio told NPR Tuesday, adding that his goal is to keep airline employees in place.

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Any government assistance might be hindered by political challenges. The 2008 Wall Street bank bailout is still widely unpopular and is viewed as giving rise to populist candidates like Trump. The optics are made more difficult considering that the biggest U.S. airlines spent roughly 96 percent of their cash flow over the last decade buying back their own shares. White House officials have pushed back on the “bailout” label, instead describing it as short-term assistance to an industry that was thriving before the coronavirus outbreak.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who chairs the critical House Transportation Committee, reportedly told members Monday that any assistance must provide for worker protections. He added that the money cannot be “used for CEOs or stock buybacks,” according to The Hill. DeFazio has received $1.1 million in campaign cash from transportation unions and $732,000 from the air transport industry since 1989.

The Air Line Pilots Association said Monday that any stimulus bill must provide labor protections. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, tweeted Monday that Congress should provide direct payroll subsidies to employees who currently cannot work.

“We won’t let this look like the bank bailout of 2008, nor can you compare the two,” Nelson tweeted. “The airline industry didn’t cause the pandemic and money should come with significant conditions to help workers and keep planes flying, not enrich shareholders or pad executive bonuses.”

While each of the top airlines regularly spend more than $3 million annually to deploy revolving door lobbyists to Washington, the flight attendants union spent just $134,000 on lobbying last year. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants spent $89,400 on lobbying last year while the company whose employees it represents, American Airlines, shelled out $5.3 million.

Delta has announced it is laying off contractors as it cuts down on its operations. In the week after the Sept. 11 attacks, the airline industry announced more than 100,000 layoffs. The industry is in a much stronger position now, but analysts have said major airliners could go bankrupt by May without government assistance.

The Trump administration and Congress may have to pick winners and losers among the numerous industries ravaged by the COVID-19 virus. Powerful lobbying groups representing restaurants, casinos and oil companies are also asking for government assistance as consumer spending comes to a halt. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the top lobbying spender of all time, is pushing for payroll tax cuts to help employers.



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