Taxpayers gave airlines about $300,000 per employee.
The Times analysis finds that the money’s primary use was bolstering airline share prices, as the authors write, “we socialized the airline industry’s losses and largely privatized the gains.” A former Obama administration called the money “the ultimate corporate welfare,” and an additional analysis from Open Secrets found that the airline industry spent $25 million on lobbying lawmakers in 2020.
Source: Summer air travel is a ‘total mess’ right now. Who’s to blame?
