Hacker News Reader

Most of the US airlines took the COVID bailout bill money. That bill required them to maintain specific service, and avoid layoffs through the end of September. Expect some chaotic changes in October.

View on HN

Do you think the US gov won't renew those?

I suspect several of the airlines are now itching to do layoffs. It's hard to sustain the same number of employees when the traveler numbers are down so badly. They are all losing money despite the bailout.

True. I think this comes down to: will the US gov just continually print money while there is a slowdown from both top down lockdown and also people just trying to stay safe.

AA already laid off 30% of their management jobs, tho officially only starting October 1st.

I don't think they will. There is no appetite for that sort of bill right now. There's general crisis fatigue, and the Senate won't take up a bill the President won't support. The President won't support anything that does not align with the theme of re-opening the economy.

For example, congressional discussions on a "Phase 4" financial support package have been pushed back and back for over a month now.

The sense of urgency is not helped by the fact that the deadline to apply for PPP funds passed yesterday, with over $130 billion unspent.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com