With help from Melissa Heikkilä and Cristiano Lima
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— Airlines are scrambling to respond as the terms of their government aid shifts under their feet.
— President Donald Trump promised help to Boeing, saying it’s “very important” the company gets back on its feet, while he simultaneously criticized and praised the grounded 737 MAX.
— DOT is sending out the financial assistance for Amtrak that Congress allocated in the most recent coronavirus response law.
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SHIFTING TERMS FOR AIRLINE AID: Airlines are pushing back against the Treasury Department’s plan — first reported by Reuters on Friday — to require major carriers to repay 30 percent of the payroll aid they receive. Carriers thought the money, included in the CARES Act, H.R. 748 (116), “was to be only in grants — which is considerably more effective for our employees — and not a combination of grants and loans,” Airlines for America said in a statement. And the head of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA decried the plan: “This is absolutely stealing from the money Congress allocated directly to workers,” Sarah Nelson tweeted on Saturday.
Treasury is also discussing “appropriate financial instruments to compensate taxpayers” with a dozen passenger airlines whose grants would top $100 million, according to a statement from the department. It won’t demand such instruments (e.g. warrants) from smaller passenger airlines, our Brianna Gurciullo reported on Friday. That means those carriers will “promptly” have access to the money once Treasury approves their applications.
Several airlines have also asked for exemptions from minimum service requirements issued by DOT as part of the conditions set on financial assistance. Delta Air Lines was the latest (and first major carrier) to do so on Friday, arguing it should be able to start and end seasonal services as they were scheduled before the outbreak, Brianna reports. The company also wants to be allowed to stop flying to two points in the Virgin Islands while travel restrictions are in place.
On the Hill: A group of lawmakers representing districts that contain regional airports is asking DOT to be sensitive to those airports as the agency enforces the minimum service orders. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), who led the letter, warned that DOT’s decision to mandate service to regions rather than specific airports could threaten Manchester Boston Regional Airport and others like it. “We urge you to use your considerable discretion under the law to ensure that air carriers applying for these loans maintain service to our regional airports,” the lawmakers wrote.
TRUMP BACKS BOEING AID: As Boeing considers whether to take advantage of up to $17 billion in government assistance, Trump indicated the company will have his support if it asks. Boeing hasn’t formally requested aid yet, Trump noted on Friday, but he said “making sure that Boeing is strong again is very, very powerful and very important, and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do.”
Trump also went off on a tangent, during which he criticized the grounded 737 MAX. “They got it too complex,” he said. “It becomes so complex you have to be No. 1 in your class at MIT to be able to fly it.” But he said a company official told him the MAX is now “the safest airplane in the air” after several fixes.
Investment banks Lazard and Evercore are helping Boeing “analyze government aid and potential funding from the private market,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal also reported that the manufacturer was mulling a 10 percent reduction to its workforce.
Boeing is planning to restart some operations at certain sites in Washington state this week, putting about 2,500 workers back on the job, the Seattle Times reported.
HEADING TO MONTREAL: Trump plans to appoint Sean Doocey, who previously led the White House’s personnel office, to be the U.S. representative at the International Civil Aviation Organization. It’s an appointment — not a nomination. Doocey’s predecessor, Thomas Carter, needed Senate confirmation because Trump nominated him for the rank of ambassador, a senior administration official told MT.
GOING SUPERSONIC: The FAA’s new rule setting takeoff and landing noise limits for supersonic planes hits the Federal Register today. As Brianna reported a few weeks ago, manufacturers have said they need the rule “in order to complete their designs with reasonable certainty that the aircraft will qualify for type certification in the United States.” Environmental groups, however, are not having it. “Allowing supersonic aircraft to fly would be a disaster for our climate,” said Clare Lakewood, climate legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
AMTRAK’S RESCUE MONEY ON ITS WAY: DOT is getting ready to send out the money allocated in the CARES Act for Amtrak, the agency announced on Friday. The over $1 billion can be used for the railroad’s response to the coronavirus and its overall operations, which have seen a drop in travel and sliding revenue. The Northeast Corridor will see $492 million and $526 million will go to the National Network Grants. “After Amtrak’s best year ever in 2019, this essential funding will help keep our people working during this unprecedented reduction in travel demand,” Amtrak Senior Executive Vice President Stephen Gardner said in a statement.
MAILBAG: Non-emergency medical transportation providers and other small transportation agencies around the country are asking Congress for help in the next coronavirus response bill, warning that their services are being strained. The Community Transportation Association of America led a letter sent Friday asking for several provisions, including increased funding for private nonprofit transportation agencies, adjusted volunteer driver reimbursement rates, and protection for the NEMT Medicaid benefit.
CRITICAL SAFETY AND PRIVACY FLAWS IN CONNECTED CARS: Drivers beware: Your rides are vulnerable to digital saboteurs. Some of Europe’s most popular connected car models have crucial security flaws that allow intruders to access personal data such as passwords and location history as well as components that control key functions such as collision-warning systems and tire air pressure, according to an investigation by British consumer group Which?.
BRIDGES NEED WORK: More than a third of the bridges in the U.S. need major repair work or should be replaced, according to a new analysis by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, which reviewed new data from DOT’s 2019 National Bridge Inventory database. That’s nearly 231,000 bridges stretching over 6,300 miles, crossed by drivers 1.5 billion times a day.
The good news: The number of structurally deficient bridges (more than 46,000) decreased by 900 compared with 2018.
The group called for roads and bridges to be part of the coronavirus recovery. “Increased transportation investments support direct job creation and retention, while putting in place capital assets that will enhance U.S. productivity for decades to come,” ARTBA President Dave Bauer said.
U.K. BLOCKS SABRE-FARELOGIX MERGER: A U.S. judge may have been OK with travel booking giant Sabre’s acquisition of software company Farelogix, but U.K. officials aren’t. In a decision last week, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal, saying it would lead to less innovation and harm travel agents and U.K. passengers. The U.K. noted that the Justice Department was unsuccessful in its challenge but said its focus is on protecting “competition in the U.K. for the benefit of U.K. consumers and its processes, and grounds for assessment, are different to those in the USA.”
— “Coronavirus got rid of smog. Can electric cars do so permanently?” Wall Street Journal.
— “Where the rubber meets the road: Commuter cash helping needy.” AP.
— “Auto giants trade drills for tweezers in bid to rush coronavirus ventilators.” Wall Street Journal.
— “Siemens CEO rules out job cuts from coronavirus impact.” Reuters.
— “On America’s busiest highways, the virus leaves an open road.” New York Times.
DOT appropriations run out in 170 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,266 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 170 days.
- Kathryn Wolfe @kathrynwolfe
- Sam Mintz @samjmintz
- Stephanie Beasley @steph_beasley
- Brianna Gurciullo @brigurciullo
- Tanya Snyder @tsnyderdc
Airlines push back on Treasury’s changing terms for aid
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