US lawmakers and the White House agreed today on an 18-billion-dollar rescue package to avert disaster in the airline industry after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
The new package included five billion dollars in federal cash assistance and 10 billion dollars in loan guarantees, US President George Bush's spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said.
Another three billion dollars would pay for extra airline security costs, coming out of an earlier 40-billion-dollar package already passed by Congress to help rebuild after the attacks.
"A victims' fund would also be set up", he said.
"An agreement was reached between the administration and congressional negotiators to secure a package to promote stability and security for the airline industry," Mr Fleisher said.
The deal is scheduled to go to a vote at the House of Representatives later in the day. The Senate must then pass the legislation before it can be signed into law by Mr Bush.
Airlines are suffering as the attacks frighten away passengers and force the carriers to undertake burdensome security measures, which reduce the maximum number of flights.
Their troubles were aggravated by the unprecedented complete shutdown of US airspace when the attacks were launched. The ban was lifted two days later, but operations resumed only slowly.
AFP