January 29, 2021

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Chuck Schumer Speaker of the House U.S. Senate Majority Leader U.S. Capitol U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Maria Cantwell The Honorable Peter DeFazio Chair Chair Senate Commerce Committee House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Maxine Waters Chair House Financial Services Committee Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Chairs Cantwell, DeFazio and Waters,

On behalf of the nearly 60,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, we urge you to include an extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP) in the Covid-19 recovery package under deliberation. This extremely successful program, which provides aid exclusively for employee payroll, has ensured that nearly 750,000 airline employees remain employed during this crisis while preserving collective bargaining rights, prohibiting furloughs, and reigning in corporate excess related to stock repurchases and executive compensation.

Unfortunately, air travel remains down roughly 60 percent, and with pending travel restrictions and new variants of the virus crossing into the U.S., tens of thousands of airline workers will lose their jobs on March 31, 2021. Aviation workers account for over 5% of GDP and the spillover effect of mass layoffs will have attendant consequences for the nation’s economic recovery and the distribution of the vaccine. Absent certainty, it will be hard and expensive to bring pilots and other employees back to the industry to respond to any rise in demand.

We respectfully ask Congress to provide $15 billion in aid with furlough protections that last through September 30th or the exhaustion of the funds, whichever is later. This is the simplest and fastest way to maintain Congress’ historic commitment to keep aviation workers on payroll—many of whom are on the front lines of this deadly virus. Action cannot wait. Absent congressional action mass layoffs are inevitable.

We thank you for your support to date and continued interest in helping this heavily unionized industry deal with the pandemic.

Sincerely,

Joseph G. DePete President, Air Line Pilots Association International