The Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) is an office of

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

created to assist US

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

s in the wake of the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. The Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, signed into law September 22, 2001, authorizes the board to issue up to $10 billion in federal loan guarantees to air carriers for which credit is not otherwise available and where "such agreement is a necessary part of maintaining a safe, efficient and viable commercial aviation system in the United States."

Loan guarantees

Between 2001 and 2003, the ATSB approved applications for loan guarantees from seven carriers:

America West Airlines America West Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated from 1981 until it merged with US Airways in 2007. It was headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. Its main hub was at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with secondary hubs ...

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

, American Trans Air,

Aloha Airlines Aloha Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated passenger flights from 1946 until 2008. It was headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from its hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Air ...

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines, Inc. is a major American ultra low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and employs more than 5,000 staff. ...

, Evergreen International Airlines, and

World Airways World Airways, Inc. was an American airline headquartered in Peachtree City, Georgia in Greater Atlanta. During the regulated era that ended after 1978, World was a supplemental air carrier. After US airline deregulation in 1979, the company op ...

. These carriers accepted loan guarantees worth $1.179 billion. Ultimately, the government benefited from the program, drawing $300 million in profit.

References

External links

*U.S. Treasury - Air Transportation Stabilization Board
GAO: State Of the U.S. Commercial Airline Industry and Possible Issues for Congressional Consideration
United States Department of the Treasury Aviation in the United States 2001 establishments in the United States Aftermath of the September 11 attacks {{US-gov-stub