《金融时报》，2020年4月15日
美国财政部已与美国航空公司达成协议，为该行业在冠状病毒大流行期间获得数十亿美元援助以支付工资成本铺平道路，并可能看到政府成为数家上市公司的股东。
此前，美国总统特朗普（Donald Trump）政府与美国主要客运公司就上月颁布的2万亿美元刺激法案中为航空业拨款250亿美元的条款进行了数天的激烈交锋。
航空公司试图抵制美国纳税人对其公司持有股权的想法，而代表空姐和飞行员的工会则批评政府在旨在保障安全的aid项目上行动太慢。
西南航空公司在该计划下获得32亿美元，其中23亿美元为赠款，其余为无担保的10年期低息贷款。贷款协议预计将包括向美国国债发出的购买260万股西南股票的担保。“我们赞扬美国财政部迅速采取行动，向经济注入流动性，并试图保持企业开放和人员在职，”西南行政长官加里凯利（Gary Kelly）表示。捷蓝航空还将向政府发出许可证。
捷蓝航空首席执行官罗宾·海斯说，每一家航空公司在2019年第二季度和第三季度将获得相当于其工资总额四分之三的薪酬。对捷蓝航空而言，这一数字约为9.36亿美元，其中四分之一以上将以贷款的形式发放，要求从10月份开始偿还，而且该航空公司还必须维持最低水平的国内服务。
US Treasury reaches deal to prop up airlines
Financial Times, 15 April 2020
The US Treasury department has reached an agreement with US airlines that paves the way for the sector to receive billions of dollars in aid to cover payroll costs during the coronavirus pandemic and could see the government emerge as a shareholder in several public companies. The deal comes after days of testy exchanges between President Donald Trump’s administration and America’s leading passenger carriers over the terms of $25b in funding allocated to the industry in the $2t stimulus legislation enacted last month. Airlines tried to resist the idea of US taxpayers taking an equity interest in their companies, while unions representing flight attendants and pilotscriticisedthe government for moving too slowly onaid designed tosafeguardjobs. Southwest expectstoreceive $3.2b underthe programme, with $2.3b asagrant andtherest asanunsecured, low-interest 10-yearloan. The loanagreement is expectedto includewarrantsissuedtothe US Treasuryto buy 2.6m Southwest shares. “We applaud the quick action bythe USDepartment of Treasury toinfuse liquidity into the economy and try to keep businesses open and people on the job,” said Gary Kelly, Southwest CE. JetBlue Airways also willgive the government warrants. Every airline will receive apayment equal toroughly three- quarters of its payroll for Q2 and Q3 of 2019, said JetBlue CE Robin Hayes. For JetBlue, that totals about $936m. Just over a quarter will come in the form of a loan that will require repayment starting in October, and the airline also must maintain a minimum level of domestic service.
