American Airlines To Begin Bringing Back Employees After Payroll Relief

American Airlines is starting to bring back its employees after the payroll relief bill passes.

The airline announced on Tuesday that it would start having staff return back to work. The U.S. Congress is seemingly on its way to passing a $15 billion pandemic aid package that will support payroll for airlines. “While pay and benefits will be restored right away, people will be asked to return to the operation in phases,” Chief Executive Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in the memo, released by American.

Covid-19 has dropped air travel down by about 70 percent, and in response, airline companies began furloughing thousands of employees after the initial $35 billion federal payroll support deal expired back in October. On Monday, United Airlines execs said the re-welcoming of staff would be “temporary,” saying “we just don’t see anything in the data that shows a huge difference in bookings over the next few months,” Reuters reports. 

Since October, Nineteen-thousand American Airlines workers have been furloughed; the company is set to receive roughly $3 billion from the payroll package. The newest package deal will include restrictions on executive compensation and share buybacks. Additionally, airlines will be required to pay back 30 percent of the payroll grants over time, the outlet reports.

As for Southwest, the company has been going relatively strong since the pandemic started. However, the company asked unions to accept pay cuts to prevent furloughs expected to happen next year. Delta Airlines avoided furloughs by reducing work hours; its unionized pilots agreed to pay cuts to avoid furloughs through 2021, Reuters reports.