[US] Biden administration will give $482m to aircraft companies

The Biden administration is making $482 million available to aviation industry manufacturers to help them avoid pandemic job or pay cuts, USA Today reports.

According to the Transportation Department, the taxpayer-funded relief will cover up to half of the payroll costs at 313 companies and will help to save up to 22,500 jobs.

Air travel significantly fell due to the spread of COVID-19 and in recent months the delta variant has reportedly led to elevated cancellations and diminished travel. More than 100,000 aerospace jobs have been lost in an industry that had employed about 2.2 million people, the Transportation Department said.

The largest recipient of the funds, announced on September 13, is Spirit Aerosystems - a Boeing supplier based in Kansas - it will receive $75.5 million, a figure that the government says will help protect 3,214 jobs. Parker-Hannifin Corp. of Ohio, which makes hydraulic systems for planes, will get $39.7 million. The avionics unit of Japan's Panasonic, based in California, will get $25.8 million, and several U.S. subsidiaries of France's Safran S.A. will get a total of $24.8 million.

The money for these aerospace companies is coming from a $1.9 trillion package approved by Congress and signed by President Biden in March.

The relief is similar to a much larger aid programme for US airlines, which have received $54 billion in the past eighteen months. The airlines also agreed not to furlough any workers however they managed to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs by offering incentives for employees to quit or retire early.

Critics have labelled the airline aid a bailout that amounted to several hundred thousand dollars for each job that was spared; a total of 75,000 jobs, by some estimates. Defenders such as American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said that without the government's help, airlines would have been forced to shut down when traffic plummeted to levels not seen since the '50s.

The Federal Aviation Administration - part of the Transportation Department - recently awarded $100 million to aerospace companies including Boeing, General Electric's aviation division and jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney to make planes quieter and less polluting.

Source: USA Today

The Biden administration is making $482 million available to aviation industry manufacturers to help them avoid pandemic job or pay cuts, USA Today reports.

According to the Transportation Department, the taxpayer-funded relief will cover up to half of the payroll costs at 313 companies and will help to save up to 22,500 jobs.

Air travel significantly fell due to the spread of COVID-19 and in recent months the delta variant has reportedly led to elevated cancellations and diminished travel. More than 100,000 aerospace jobs have been lost in an industry that had employed about 2.2 million people, the Transportation Department said.

The largest recipient of the funds, announced on September 13, is Spirit Aerosystems - a Boeing supplier based in Kansas - it will receive $75.5 million, a figure that the government says will help protect 3,214 jobs. Parker-Hannifin Corp. of Ohio, which makes hydraulic systems for planes, will get $39.7 million. The avionics unit of Japan's Panasonic, based in California, will get $25.8 million, and several U.S. subsidiaries of France's Safran S.A. will get a total of $24.8 million.

The money for these aerospace companies is coming from a $1.9 trillion package approved by Congress and signed by President Biden in March.

The relief is similar to a much larger aid programme for US airlines, which have received $54 billion in the past eighteen months. The airlines also agreed not to furlough any workers however they managed to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs by offering incentives for employees to quit or retire early.

Critics have labelled the airline aid a bailout that amounted to several hundred thousand dollars for each job that was spared; a total of 75,000 jobs, by some estimates. Defenders such as American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said that without the government's help, airlines would have been forced to shut down when traffic plummeted to levels not seen since the '50s.

The Federal Aviation Administration - part of the Transportation Department - recently awarded $100 million to aerospace companies including Boeing, General Electric's aviation division and jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney to make planes quieter and less polluting.

Source: USA Today