White House to Discuss How to Help Airlines

By Kate Davidson 

WASHINGTON -- Officials will brief President Trump on Thursday afternoon on their plans for assistance to airlines, which are eligible for grants and loans as part of a $2.2 trillion economic relief package, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday.

"We hope to get to a lot of the airlines starting tomorrow and over the weekend with preliminary information," he said in an interview with CNBC. "It is our objective to make sure that, as I've said, this is not a bailout, but that airlines have the liquidity to keep their workers in place."

"That's the next big thing we'll be rolling out," he added.

The Treasury last week launched a new emergency-lending program for small businesses and is backstopping several new credit facilities the Federal Reserve announced Thursday to lend to mid-size firms, and states and municipalities.

Details about the airline programs have trickled out over the past two weeks. Several U.S. airlines, including American Airlines Group, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings, on Friday applied for government funds to keep paying workers. But the companies say they still need more cash as demand for travel has all but evaporated amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Mnuchin said he thought the U.S. economy could be ready to reopen by the end of May, "as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues."

"We are doing everything necessary [to ensure] that American companies and American workers can be open for business and that they have the liquidity that they need to operate their business in the interim," he said.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 09, 2020 10:20 ET (14:20 GMT)

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