With help from Brianna Gurciullo
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— President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are both planning to emphasize infrastructure on the campaign trail next week.
— Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that the airline industry could need more government help in the coming months.
— House Democrats introduced a bill that would give emergency relief to the maritime sector.
IT’S FRIDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Get in touch with tips, feedback or song lyric suggestions at [email protected] or @samjmintz.
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, railways, rivers and runways.
SPLIT SCREEN: Next week will feature a couple of transportation-heavy days on the campaign trail, with Trump and Biden each expected to lay out their infrastructure plans.
Trump: The president is hitting Atlanta on Wednesday to “tout his administration’s transportation agenda and announce a policy change designed to speed infrastructure projects,” per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. A proposed rule announced in January has now been finalized, and Trump will announce its implementation at his appearance, our Tanya Snyder reports.
Biden: The former vice president said at a campaign stop on Thursday that next week he’ll lay out “an updated blueprint of how we can build a modern, safe sustainable infrastructure and clean energy economy.”
FLYING LOW: The Trump administration is aware that airlines might need more help to survive the pandemic, but what form that takes and what it looks like is far from clear. As our Brianna Gurciullo reports, Mnuchin weighed in on Thursday: “I think we’re very pleased in the work that we’ve done at Treasury to help the airline industry. It’s strategically important to keep it together,” he said on CNBC. “But that’s clearly an industry — restaurants, hotels, airlines are clearly going to be areas where they’re going to need more help.”
Here are a few possibilities Brianna laid out: More payroll assistance, liability protections, or beneficial tax changes like extended excise tax holiday.
Airlines haven’t asked for a second round or extension of the payroll support program (though their struggling workforces have), but the industry isn’t ruling it out either. “A4A is not seeking additional federal funding at this time,” said Katherine Estep, a spokesperson for Airlines for America.
At just one airline: United Airlines warned earlier this week that about 36,000 frontline employees might be furloughed come October. (Separately, about 1,400 management and administrative employees are expected to be laid off.)
North of the border: Airline and aerospace advocates are calling for more government funding for the industry in Canada, POLITICO’s Maura Forrest reports. Industry leaders say they need “access to more liquidity.” John McKenna, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, told Maura the government’s existing Covid-19 liquidity programs, which are available to businesses across most sectors, aren’t sufficient for the airline industry. “Not everyone is equal in the face of the crisis,” said former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who now represents the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada.
A FRIENDLY INVITATION: American Airlines pilot and union rep Dennis Tajer was on CNBC reupping labor groups’ call for a federal mandate regarding masks on planes. The guidelines issued by the Trump administration last week didn’t go far enough, he argued, because they only included recommendations. Tajer said DOT chief Elaine Chao and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson should fly on a plane during the pandemic to see what the conditions are like. “Grab a middle seat. Grab a seat when the airplane is full,” he said. “You’ll start to see behavior that you’re not going to be pleased with.” USA Today has full coverage by Dawn Gilbertson.
WORKING ON THE HONG KONG PROBLEM: Efforts are underway to resume flights by several U.S. airlines to Hong Kong, which had been suspended after the government there imposed new testing requirements on incoming flight crew, as we scooped on Wednesday. “United [Airlines] pilots have a long history of flying to Hong Kong. Although the entry protocols changed on short notice, we have successfully dealt with similar situations before. ALPA and United are working together with local authorities and we expect to quickly resume this flying,” said Greg Everhard, a union rep for the airlines’ pilots. And the South China Morning Post reports that a coalition of North American and European carriers has proposed “testing aircrew before they depart for Hong Kong.”
MORE BOEING TROUBLE: The FAA is investigating Boeing following complaints from employees that they faced “duress that threatened their independence while assessing aircraft designs on behalf of the government,” Alan Levin of Bloomberg reports. As they look into the matter regarding the agency’s controversial Organization Designation Authorization, regulators have sent Boeing two letters of investigation, Levin writes, citing a line in the inspector general report released last week on the Boeing 737 MAX crashes.
The details: Five Boeing engineers have raised the allegations, and Boeing was unable to resolve the issue with a self-imposed corrective action plan.
The stakes: “Such letters of investigation serve notice on a company that FAA believes it has potentially violated regulations and lays out the case. They also would allow Boeing to respond to the allegations, possibly arguing that it hadn’t committed a violation,” the story says.
LOOK UP: The FAA is aiming to finalize a rule on drone flights over people in December, the head of the agency’s drone integration office, Jay Merkle, said on Thursday during a virtual conference. That’s also what was forecasted in the Unified Agenda. The rule is closely tied to another on remote identification, which is also expected to be finalized in December. The latter is supposed to ease security concerns about the former.
THROW ME A LINE: House Democrats introduced a bill on Thursday that would give relief to the maritime industry during emergencies like the ongoing pandemic. The legislation would authorize grants at the Maritime Administration, for state or other maritime supply chain entities. The measure “will give the maritime sector the same protections and relief given to other industries during COVID-19, and will close a huge gap in current federal emergency assistance that has left links in the maritime supply chain isolated and unable to access other assistance programs available to other industries,” said Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who sponsored the bill.
The American Association of Port Authorities praised the bill. “While this program would not make whole those who have lost revenues as a result of this pandemic, it would ensure that no port misses a debt payment or is forced to lay off staff related to this or future natural disasters,” the group said.
Glen Kedzie, a vice president at the American Trucking Associations, is joining the board of directors at the Consumer Energy Association. He’s replacing Airlines for America chief economist John Heimlich, whose term on the board is expiring.
— “Feds ask court to block Ford, other automakers from emissions lawsuit.” POLITICO Pro.
— “JetBlue to leave Long Beach Airport, will move to LAX.” Los Angeles Times.
— “California high-speed rail releases environmental study of San Jose-San Francisco service.” Silicon Valley Business Journal.
— “Tesla appears poised to electrify S&P 500.” Reuters.
— “Another electric-car maker is coming to market, the same way Nikola did.” Barrons.
— “People are refusing mandatory orders to wear masks on flights, and it’s causing mayhem with other passengers.” Business Insider.
DOT appropriations run out in 82 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,178 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 82 days.
