Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Less than 24 hours after the Treasury Department formally extended cash grant offers to the six largest airlines in the U.S., the union representing 120,000 flight attendants is blasting the move with a dire warning.
“This will lead to airline bankruptcies,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union. “The Treasury Department is destabilizing the industry, not helping save it.”
Nelson’s anger is fueled by the Treasury Department deciding to make 30% of each cash grant offer a low interest loan payable to the federal government.
That move, which caught many airline executives by surprise, means the $25 billion approved by Congress for immediate cash grants will actually be $17.5 billion. The other $7.5 billion will now be loans airlines will be required to re-pay.
“This is not what Congress approved,” said one industry executive who asked not to be identified given the ongoing discussions between…
