American Airlines will begin recalling furloughed employees as soon as US lawmakers approve a relief package with payroll funds for airlines, CEO Doug Parker said. The first paychecks are set to be issued as soon as Dec. 24 to workers who had been sent home, Parker and American’s president, Robert Isom, said Monday in a memo to employees. Pay and benefits would be retroactive to Dec. 1. Congress reached a deal late Sunday on a $900b package to help people and businesses damaged financially by the coronavirus pandemic. The relief measures include about $15b for US airline employees, including those placed on furlough when an earlier round of aid expired Sept. 30. With demand for air travel continuing to languish, the new funds would cover airlines’ payroll costs for the first quarter of 2021. “We’ve fought shoulder to shoulder with our labor partners since the summer to get to this point,” Parker and Isom wrote. They asked employees to contact Congressional representatives to ensure that the bill becomes law.<br/>
oneworld
Aer Lingus received final US approval Monday to join a transatlantic joint venture with other major airlines. The US DoT in November granted tentative approval for Aer Lingus to join the venture consisting of American Airlines, British Airways, OpenSkies, Iberia and Finnair. The announcement will give the joint venture control of more than half of the US-Ireland passenger flight market. The approval will integrate Aer Lingus into the venture’s network planning, pricing and sales. Aer Lingus controls 44% of the US-Ireland flight market, a figure that will rise to 60% for the alliance. In 2015, IAG, the parent company of British Airways, Iberia and OpenSkies, acquired Aer Lingus. The group petitioned in 2018 to allow Aer Lingus to join the alliance. Despite the alliance’s majority market share, the US regulator noted steps that it said would support competition. As a condition of approval, the department proposed the venture maintain commitments to release landing and takeoff gate slots at London airports to competitors. Those were imposed when the alliance was first approved in 2010.<br/>