![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Gary-Kelly.jpg\")
\u201cWe are excited to have Gary ascending to the Chairman role\nat the time of such significant challenge for our industry, carriers and\nemployees,\u201d said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. \u201cThis year has been\ndevastating for U.S. airlines, and we are looking forward to rebuilding the\nindustry and relaunching air travel in the new year under the leadership and\nvision of both Gary and Robin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to the pandemic, U.S. airlines were transporting a\nrecord 2.5 million passengers and 58,000 tons of cargo per day. As travel\nrestrictions and stay-at-home orders were implemented, demand for air travel\ndeclined sharply with passenger volumes plummeting 96 percent to a level not\nseen since before the dawn of the jet age. Carriers have been forced to cut\nflights and currently are burning $180 million in cash every day just to stay\nin operation. The rapid spread of COVID-19 along with government and\nbusiness-imposed restrictions on air travel continue to have an unprecedented\nand debilitating impact on the U.S. airlines, their employees and the traveling\nand shipping public. Today, passenger volumes are down 65-70 percent, the pace\nof new bookings has slowed and carriers have reported an increase in customer\ncancellations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThroughout the pandemic, U.S. airline employees have\ncontinued to provide essential services, including transporting medical\npersonnel, equipment and supplies. Now, as our nation prepares for the approval\nof a coronavirus vaccine, it is more critical than ever that our employees are\non the job and ready to assist with the distribution of these vaccines across\nthe country and around the world,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cWe appreciate the support\nWashington extended back in March with the Payroll Support Program (PSP), and\nwe continue to ask Congress to pass another federal relief package that will\nhelp preserve the jobs of these hardworking men and women in the U.S. airline\nindustry. Additionally, A4A and its members look forward to meeting with\nmembers of the new administration to discuss mutual priorities to keep the\nnational air transportation system an important contributor to our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CARES Act passed in March included direct payroll\nassistance for U.S. airlines, providing the immediate financial relief\nnecessary to preserve airline jobs. Unfortunately, when that funding expired on\nSeptember 30, tens of thousands of employees \u2013 including flight attendants,\npilots, mechanics and many others \u2013 were furloughed. U.S. airlines have said\nthey may be able to restore these jobs if the PSP is extended, but this becomes\nincreasingly challenging with each passing day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo doubt about it, our number one goal is survival and\nkeeping our employees on the job and out of the unemployment line. We also\ncan\u2019t take our eye off the importance of sustainability,\u201d added Hayes. \u201cAt the\nend of last year \u2013 prior to the pandemic \u2013 I remember saying that\nsustainability was probably the most critical issue facing the industry. We\nhave to be fully committed to a more sustainable future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Airlines for America (A4A) announced today that the Board of Directors has elected Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly to serve as the Chairman of the Board for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2021. Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue Airways, was elected to serve as the Vice Chairman of the association. \u201cWe are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17113,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17111\/revisions\/17113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}