Posted on 11/21/21
| News Source: Politico
The wave of airline cancellations that snarled thousands of flights over the past three months did more than strand passengers at airports from Florida to Indiana and points in between.
It also angered lawmakers who had given the airline industry more than $50 billion in pandemic relief money over the last year and a half — based on the carriers’ promise that the cash would help them be ready for travelers’ return to the skies. Now Congress is demanding answers about why airlines have been so unprepared for the inevitable upswing in passenger demand, a question with big implications for the holiday travel season that kicks off this weekend.
“There should have been every reason, particularly given the bailout money for the airlines, to prepare for the surge we’re seeing now,” Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s representative in Congress, told POLITICO. “This money was for a very specific purpose.”
Norton, who said she has some “buyer’s remorse” for supporting the bailout, is calling for hearings on the topic before the House Transportation Committee — and she’s not the only one. The Senate’s transportation panel is already preparing to grill airlines on the matter in early December.
“The airlines owe Americans better service,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the panel. “In my view, they’re failing to keep their side of the bargain.”
Airlines for America, the trade group for major U.S. airlines, said the hiccups carriers have experienced recently “are wholly unrelated” to federal support payments, which was “used exclusively” to keep workers on the job.