Two House Democrats have asked a Treasury Department watchdog to investigate whether airlines used part of a federal coronaviruses relief package to pay for staff buyouts during the swine flu epidemic.
It was not allowed for airlines to lay off staff as a condition of receiving taxpayer aid to deal with the Covid-19 Pandemic. Demand for travel fell in the early days of the crisis. Workers were urged to take early retirement packages by the carriers. Hundreds of pilots were among the thousands who took them up.
Airlines were short-staffed when travel demand rebounded. Some airlines, like American and United, have cut flights in order to save money. Hundreds of new pilots from smaller airlines have been hired by airlines to fill their own ranks.
The labor shortage this year has made it harder for airlines to recover from bad weather.
Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled because of pilot shortages, causing havoc on travel plans for millions of Americans.
The watchdog was asked to give preliminary results by the end of the month.
In November of 2020, the US carriers had 362,354 full-time equivalent employees, which was a decrease from the previous year. The airlines have been on a hiring spree for more than a year.
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