The House and Senate are poised to renew air carrier payroll support and adopt certification reforms under the massive $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that is expected to come under consideration in concert with a government-wide spending package.
Following Sunday’s announcement that an agreement had been reached on coronavirus relief, the House Monday afternoon was anticipated to consider that aid package, paired with the omnibus Fiscal Year 2021 spending bill. Senate action is anticipated to follow, potentially later on Monday.
The relief package is expected to include $15 billion for renewal of the Payroll Support Program (PSP) for air carriers, $1 billion for air carrier contractors, and $2 billion for airports and airport concessionaires. This would be slightly down from the proposal offered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers to provide $17 billion for PSP and $4 billion for airports.
However, the Air Line Pilots Association was encouraged relief that would continue for air carriers. “By extending the successful Payroll Support Program, this agreement provides airlines with the resources to recall the thousands of ALPA pilots and other crewmembers who have already been furloughed, as well as grants for the exclusive purpose of keeping existing employees on payroll with wage and benefit support,” said ALPA president Joe DePete. He added the agreement would prohibit future furloughs through March 31.
As for certification reforms, the final package is anticipated to include a measure that meshes together some of the reforms included in separate bipartisan bills introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Senate Commerce Committee leaders in recent months. Those bills are designed to address many of the issues that were raised over the past 20 months in the various reviews and investigations surrounding the Boeing 737 Max crashes.
The compromise certification reform measure is said to follow many of the recommendations and expert reviews that came in the aftermath of the crashes. Inclusion of the measure, however, comes as the Senate released a highly critical report on the recertification of the Boeing Max.
