US airlines were granted unprecedented financial support from Congress to help them survive the pandemic crisis. It worked. The $54 billion in grants assigned to passenger airlines under the Payroll Support Program (PSP) was a significant factor in why there were no US major airline bankruptcies in 2020 or 2021. "It's not an exaggeration to say the program saved the airline industry," American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said in written testimony to a Senate oversight hearing. The purpose of the PSP was to allow airlines to hold on to their workforces, to pay them despite drastically reduced revenues, and to maintain air travel and city connections, even if at reduced frequencies. That's the part that worked. But the ultimate purpose was to ensure that as soon as Americans felt it was safe, the US air transport system would be ready and poised to get them to their destinations. By summer and early fall, many Americans were indeed ready to cross states, see friends and relatives, and take a vacation. Domestic travel numbers surged, as did some travel to several Mexican and Caribbean destinations. And in some cases, it overwhelmed airlines that could not ramp up operations as rapidly as demand.
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