Southwest Airlines announced Monday that they would not be laying any employees off after President Donald Trump signed the second coronavirus relief package.
Out of the $900 billion in the package, American airlines received $15 billion, The Hill reported. The money goes towards extending the Payroll Support Program (PSP) for the airlines. According to the terms for the PSP, airlines are required to keep all of their employees on payroll through Mar. 31.
Southwest Airlines says it won’t furlough any workers after Trump signed coronavirus relief bill https://t.co/zspYa21Fcs pic.twitter.com/FiuDJ6fz54
— The Hill (@thehill) December 28, 2020
In a statement released by Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said, “The new law will provide payroll support for all Southwest Employees through March 31, 2021. Given this, we currently do not anticipate the need to conduct any furloughs or pay cuts next year.”
Kelly continued on to thank several politicians for the passing of the coronavirus relief package in his statement including but not limited to; Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“I need to stress that dozens of government leaders are worthy of praise; however, these individuals deserve individual recognition,” Kelly explained.
In December, Southwest warned that unless the government acted quickly, they would have to layoff around 6,800 employees. (RELATED: Southwest Plane Returns To Gate After 2-Year-Old Removes Mask)
While other airlines such as American Airlines and United Airlines have had to layoff around 32,000 employees Southwest Airlines has not had to lay any employees off since its establishment 50 years ago.