American Airlines banks on loyalty programme to back stimulus loan to manage through coronavirus

American Airlines said Friday that it planned to pledge its loyalty program as collateral for a $4.75b government loan as it seeks to shore up capital to manage through the coronavirus pandemic. American, which is the first to provide details of the terms it is discussing with the government, expects Q2 revenue to be down about 90%. While demand for travel has started to rise as parts of the country have reopened, with over 500,000 people passing through security checkpoints Thursday — the highest since March — traffic is still down more than 80% from a year ago. On Friday, American said that its loyalty program is worth between $19.5b and $31.5b and that it would pledge a significant portion as collateral.<br/>