By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters), – The major U.S. airline companies will on Wednesday defend a $54 billion COVID-19 federal lifeline, even as they confront operational problems and try to accelerate hiring to respond to rising demand.

The Senate Commerce Committee will be hearing from chief executives at American Airlines (NASDAQ;), Southwest Airlines(NYSE:), and United Airlines. They also have to hear from chief operations officers for Delta Air Lines and an executive head of large unions of flight attendants. Other examples include JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ) and Alaska Air Group is submitting written statements.

Doug Parker, American CEO of American Airlines will tell you that “it’s not exaggeration” to claim the program saved the industry.

The committee chair Senator Maria Cantwell pressed the airline chief executives to attend the hearing. She had sent letters detailing reports about worker shortages, flight cancellations, delays, and other issues to major carriers.

Executives will be questioned by lawmakers about their use of federal bailout funds related to pandemics, and staffing matters.

Congress authorized $54 billion to pay for large portions of the payroll costs of U.S. airlines over three rounds. This covers 18 months’ worth of expenses.

Cantwell plans to call the Payroll Support Program (PSP), a historic investment that ensures a vital sector of the U.S. Economy by making sure airlines have funding to continue paying employees.” Her office added, “PSP saved hundreds of thousands of jobs across the U.S. Airline industry.”

In written testimony, airlines claim they are hiring aggressively and defend the assistance. They state that COVID-19 continues to hinder demand, and is below levels of 2019.

John Laughter from Delta will declare that “the Omicron variant created more uncertainty and there is not a clear consensus about when international business travel will return.”

Other countries required higher amounts of COVID-19 aviation assistance, while the government did not provide similar financial support to other U.S. sectors. U.S. Airlines rejected the conditions that some legislators sought, like reducing carbon emission.

According to a Commerce Committee memo, out of $54 trillion, the airlines will have to repay $14 billion (or 26.2%) and Treasury has warrants worth around $200 million. Treasury provided $25 billion of low-cost government loans for carriers.

According to the memo, payroll assistance allowed the United States “to outperform Europe or Asia in terms of air travel recovery after the pandemic.”

Sara Nelson, President of Association of Flight Attendants-CWA stated in writing testimony that airline staffing levels are higher than pre-pandemic levels when compared with the flight hours they fly. Because of the COVID concerns and combative passengers, aviation workers may not be as eager to work overtime.

Airlines for America, a trade association representing the industry, stated to the committee that they would likely have reduced their capacity without assistance in order to prevent a sharp drop in the load factor.

It is estimated that approximately 50K airline employees chose to retire early or leave their jobs completely.

Airline companies that accepted government assistance to pay for payroll expenses through September 30th were not allowed to furlough or fire workers. Executive compensation was also limited and stock buybacks and dividends banned.