The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized Merck’s COVID-19 pill for certain adults.
The authorization is limited to adults who have a high risk of severe illness and for whom alternative FDA-authorized treatment options are not accessible or medically appropriate.
This is the second COVID-19 treatment in pill form after Pfizer’s pills were authorized Wednesday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
In a recent TikTok, the Jo-Bro shared a photo of himself in the audience at Coachella in 2016 and revealed that he was high during the event.
“Thinking no one can tell I’m high at Coachella,” he confessed in the text, superimposed on the photo. Joe posted to confession alongside himself mouthing along to a popular Tyra Banks line that originated from America’s Next Top Model.
“It is so bad, I want to give you a ‘zero,'” Joe mouths while looking embarrassed. “But that’s not possible so I give you a ‘one.'”
(MOSCOW) — Amid fears Russia might invade Ukraine, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has again repeated demands for guarantees from Western countries that NATO will not expand in eastern Europe, but also expressed hope that negotiations with the Biden administration in January could allow the two sides to “move forward.”
Putin offered the mixed messages on Thursday during his marathon end-of-year press conference in Moscow, making menacing accusations against Ukraine but also sounding more hopeful notes around the possibility for negotiation.
Western countries are alarmed that Russia may be preparing a renewed invasion into Ukraine this winter, amid a build up of tens of thousands of Russian troops on its border. Putin has demanded the U.S. and NATO give legal guarantees the alliance will not expand further and withdraw NATO troop deployments from eastern Europe.
The Biden administration has called those demands non-starters but has agreed to hold talks with Russia over its concerns. Putin on Thursday said those talks would take place in Geneva in January and said Russia had seen a “positive reaction” from the U.S. to its demands to negotiate.
“I hope that the first positive reaction and the announced possible start of work in the near future, in the first days of January, will allow us to move forward,” Putin said.
Putin said Russia was forced to confront NATO and Ukraine now to prevent the country potentially becoming a base for NATO missiles in the future.
“And so we put the question directly: there must be no movement of NATO further to the east,” he said. “The ball is in their court. They must answer us something.”
The U.S. and NATO countries have rejected Russia’s demands for a veto on NATO expansion, seeing them as an attempt by the Kremlin to have formal recognition for a sphere of influence over Ukraine. Analysts and Western officials have been trying to understand whether the Russian build up is a negotiating tactic or signals a real readiness to invade.
Putin’s comments on Thursday did little to move the needle. He said Russia did not want conflict but alleged there Ukraine might be preparing a military operation to re-take the Russian-controlled separatist regions in its east, saying Kyiv had tried to do it twice before in the past.
“They keep telling us: war, war, war,” Putin said. “There is an impression that, maybe, they are preparing for the third military operation and are warning us in advance: do not intervene, do not protect these people. But if you do intervene and protect them, there will be new sanctions. Perhaps, we should prepare for that.”
Analysts fear Russia might use the accusation of a Ukrainian attack as pretext to launch its own invasion. There are no signs Ukraine’s government is preparing such an assault, which would risk an overwhelming Russian response.
Russia last week published two draft treaties listing its demands from the U.S. and NATO. The proposals would limit NATO troops and military infrastructure to the countries where they were based before 1997, when the key eastern European members joined.
The Biden administration immediately rejected Russia’s demands limiting which countries can join NATO. But it has said it is ready to hold talks with Moscow about some of the other proposals, which are linked to arms control for example.
Putin spoke at length and angrily about NATO’s expansion eastward since the end of the Cold War, a grievance he has long held.
Asked by a journalist from Britain’s Sky News on Thursday if he would guarantee Russia will not invade Ukraine, Putin said it was Russia that needed guarantees from Western countries over NATO.
“What guarantees must we give you? You must give us guarantees. Right here and right now!” Putin said.
Sorry, John Wick fans — you’ll have to wait a little bit longer for the fourth installment of the Keanu Reeves-led franchise. In a teaser released Wednesday, Lionsgate announced that John Wick: Chapter 4 — Hagakure will hit theaters on March 24, 2023. It was initially scheduled for a May 27, 2022 release…
Atlanta finally has a return date. After a three-year hiatus, the award-winning Donald Glover series will kick off its third season on March 24 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. The premiere event will air the first two episodes of the 10-episode season, which will take place almost entirely in Europe as we find the characters in the midst of a successful European tour. You can catch a teaser-trailer for the new season during ESPN and ABC’s slate of NBA games on Christmas Day…
The wait is almost over for a slew of HBO Max shows held up due to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The streaming service released a new sizzle reel on Wednesday revealing a slew of shows coming in 2022, including the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, the Suicide Squad spinoff Peacemaker, season four of Westworld, season three of Barry, and second seasons of The Flight Attendant and Euphoria. Major 2021 films like Free Guy, F9 and The Last Duel will also hit HBO Max next year, along with new releases like The Father of the Bride remake, Kimi, The Fallout, Scoob: Holiday Hunt, House Party and Moonshot. Premiere dates have yet to be announced…
Michael Keaton is expected to reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, the character he originated in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, for HBO Max’s superhero feature Batgirl, according to Variety. He would star alongside Leslie Grace, who’s been tapped to play the titular role. While plot details have been kept under wraps, the film centers on the heroine, whose real identity is Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham police commissioner Jim Gordon — played by J.K. Simmons, reprising his role from Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Brendan Fraser will play Firefly, a sociopathic villain with a passion for pyrotechnics. Batgirl is slated for a 2022 release…
The Critics Choice Association has decided to postpone this year’s Critics Choice Awards due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and its Omicron variant. “After thoughtful consideration and candid conversations with our partners at The CW and TBS, we have collectively come to the conclusion that the prudent and responsible decision at this point is to postpone the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards, originally slated for January 9, 2022,” the CCA announced Wednesday evening. “We are in regular communication with LA County Public Health officials, and we are currently working diligently to find a new date during the upcoming awards season in which to host our annual gala in-person with everyone’s safety and health remaining our top priority”…
(PHILADELPHIA) — Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked at gunpoint in broad daylight Wednesday afternoon in south Philadelphia’s largest park following a business meeting.
The congresswoman was left unharmed, according to a statement provided to ABC News by her spokesperson, Lauren Cox.
“Wednesday afternoon, at around 2:45 p.m., Congresswoman Scanlon was carjacked at gunpoint in FDR Park following a meeting at that location. The Congresswoman was physically unharmed,” Cox said in a statement.
“She thanks the Philadelphia Police Department for their swift response, and appreciates the efforts of both the Sergeant at Arms in D.C. and her local police department for coordinating with Philly PD to ensure her continued safety,” the statement said.
Five suspects were taken into custody in Newark, Delaware, at about 9 p.m., when they were found inside Scanlon’s Acura MDX in a parking lot, Delaware State Police said. Their names were not released.
Scanlon, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, represents the 5th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, which includes parts of south Philadelphia.
Her spokesperson confirmed that Scanlon’s personal belongings, including her personal and government-issued phones and identification, were stolen by the perpetrators.
Philadelphia’s mayor, Jim Kenney, released a statement condemning the incident.
“I’m appalled to learn of this violent crime that was perpetrated against my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon. Everyone deserves to feel safe in our city, and sadly, as we know, that hasn’t always been the case this year. It’s disheartening, and quite frankly infuriating, that criminals feel emboldened to commit such a reckless crime in the middle of the day in what should be a place of tranquility and peace—one of Philadelphia’s beautiful parks,” he said in a statement.
“I’m thankful that she was not physically harmed during this incident, and my thoughts are with her during what I’m sure is a traumatic time. I’m also thankful that our police officers have been working hard to identify violent criminals and get them off our streets. PPD is actively investigating this incident. We simply cannot and will not tolerate any acts of violence. If anyone has any information about this incident—or any other crime—please call or text PPD’s anonymous tip line at 215-686-TIPS.”
The incident comes amid a violent year in Philadelphia, which saw a spike in both gunpoint robberies and auto thefts.
Philadelphia is seeing at least an 80% increase in carjackings in 2021, compared with the total number in 2020, Philadelphia Police have said.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Boston 111, Cleveland 101
Orlando 104, Atlanta 98
Oklahoma City 108, Denver 94
Milwaukee 126, Houston 106
LA Clippers 105, Sacramento 89
Toronto at Chicago (Postponed)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Colorado at Buffalo (Postponed)
Montreal at NY Rangers (Postponed)
Winnipeg at Dallas (Postponed)
Edmonton at Los Angeles (Postponed)
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Duke 76, Virginia Tech 65
Tennessee 77, Arizona 73
Auburn 71, Murray St. 58
Houston 80, Texas St. 47
Texas 68, Alabama St. 48
LSU 95, Lipscomb 60
Kentucky 95, W. Kentucky 60
Texas Tech 78, E. Washington 46
Cal Poly at UCLA (Canceled)
Louisville at Kentucky (Postponed)
Georgetown at Providence (Canceled)
Britney Spears killed two birds with one Instagram post, calling out her family and teasing new music on Wednesday.
Sharing a video of herself singing while wearing black pants and a purple crop top, the 40-year-old pop star, who was recently released from her 13-year-long conservatorship, wrote, “I just realized this today guys… after what my family tried to do to me three years ago… I needed to be my own cheerleader !!!! God knows they weren’t,” according to People.
Britney also took a moment to pat herself on the back regarding her accomplishments over the years.
“So I just read up on my self [sic] and this is what I found: Multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning pop icon Britney Spears is one of the most successful and celebrated entertainers in pop history with nearly 100 million records sold worldwide. In the U.S. alone, she has sold more than 70 million albums, singles and songs, according to Nielsen Music,” she noted.
The “Toxic” singer continued, “Spears has sold 33.6 million albums in the U.S. and ranks as the 18th-best selling album artist in the Nielsen era. Her songs have drawn 25 billion in cumulative radio airplay audience and 2.6 billion on-demand U.S. audio and video streams combined and she’s sold 39.8 million singles (36.9 million via downloads).”
Explaining why she’ll be her own cheerleader, Britney added, “I’m here to remind my white “classy” family that I haven’t forgotten what they did to me nor will I ever forget !!!!,” before teasing she’s got a “new song in the works … I’m gonna let you know what I mean !!!!!”
Spears has since deleted the caption from her post.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 812,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 61.7% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dec 23, 5:44 am
Rep. Jan Schakowsky tests positive for COVID
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., has tested positive for COVID-19.
Schakowsky said her husband, Bob, had tested positive last week. After several negative tests, the lawmaker also tested positive on Tuesday night, she said on Twitter.
Both Schakowskys were vaccinated and received boosters. They’re now quarantining, she said.
“We got tested when we felt something was off, and now we can prevent exposure to our family and loved ones,” Schakowsky said. “I implore you to do the same before holiday gatherings this week and next. Get tested if you feel sick or have been around someone who tests positive.”
ABC News’s Ben Siegel
Dec 22, 10:58 pm
Rep. Jim Clyburn, majority whip, tests positive for COVID
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the No. 3 Democrat in the House, said Wednesday night that he had tested positive for COVID. The 81-year-old lawmaker said he’s vaccinated and currently asymptomatic.
“America is in a new phase of this pandemic. No one is immune,” he wrote. “I urge anyone who has not done so to protect themselves by getting vaccinated and boosted.”
He said he has been in quarantine since Sunday awaiting results and missed his granddaughter’s wedding because of testing positive.
Clyburn played a crucial role in getting President Joe Biden elected last year when he endorsed him ahead of the South Carolina primary. Biden won the contest and carried the momentum through to the presidency.
The congressman appeared on stage with Biden on Dec. 17 at South Carolina State University’s graduation ceremony. Biden gave the commencement address while Clyburn received his diploma after graduating in 1961 but missing the ceremony. Both were wearing masks on stage and Clyburn said he tested negative ahead of the ceremony.
Clyburn was the eighth member of Congress — six representatives and two senators — to publicly disclose they tested positive for COVID this week. Later on Wednesday, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., became the ninth member to confirm a positive test.
The Critics Choice Awards, initially scheduled to be held in person in Los Angeles next month, will be postponed, the association behind the film and television awards show announced Wednesday.
“After thoughtful consideration and candid conversations with our partners at The CW and TBS, we have collectively come to the conclusion that the prudent and responsible decision at this point is to postpone the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards,” the Critics Choice Association said in a statement.
Organizers are working to find a new date during the upcoming awards season to hold the gala in person “with everyone’s safety and health remaining our top priority,” it said.
The Critics Choice Awards would have been the first major televised awards show of the season.
The announcement comes as the Los Angeles County health department reported 6,500 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, double the number from the day before and one of the steepest rises the county has seen during the pandemic.
The daily average case rate for the county has also more than doubled since last week, to 29 cases per 100,000 people. Test positivity has jumped to 4.5%, up from 1.9% last Thursday.
Health officials said new cases could reach over 20,000 by the end of the year due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.
ABC News’ Jason Nathanson and Nick Kerr
Dec 22, 7:36 pm
SCOTUS to decide fate of Biden vaccine mandates for large businesses, health care workers
The U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up challenges to the Biden administration’s federal vaccine mandates for large businesses and health care workers, scheduling an expedited hearing for Jan. 7, 2022.
In a pair of orders accepting the cases, the high court put off immediate action on the mandates until after oral arguments next month.
Last week, a federal appeals court reinstated the emergency rule from the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration requiring private companies with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccinations or conduct weekly testing to ensure workplace safety. Multiple Republican state attorneys general, business organizations and other groups appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
The Biden administration has since said masks among unvaccinated employees must be enforced starting Jan. 10 and proof of vaccination or testing compliance begins Feb. 9. The requirement remains in effect.
A separate rule by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring vaccinations of workers at facilities that receive funds to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients remains on hold. The Biden administration has asked the justices to reinstate it.
With omicron’s explosive spread threatening to outpace current COVID-19 treatments, the race is on to find new options that will stand up to the variant.
The first oral antiviral treatment for the virus was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday. Pfizer’s Paxlovid has proved effective against severe illness and death from COVID, and is expected to hold up against omicron. The news lent a glimmer of hope amid the latest surge, but supply is expected to remain limited for months as production ramps up.
Meanwhile, omicron’s high transmission rate is squeezing what was already a finite arsenal of COVID treatments. Of the currently authorized monoclonal antibody therapies — which have become a primary treatment for COVID to help keep patients out of the hospital — two of the main ones bought in bulk by the U.S. government have not been successful against the omicron variant.
The third option, one so far expected to remain effective against omicron, is in scant supply with federal health officials moving quickly to stockpile the drug, called sotrovimab, from Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the low supply of sotrovimab is “something we need to worry about” in a private call this week between the White House COVID response team and the nation’s governors obtained by ABC News.
The Biden administration is aiming to double its sotrovimab supply to more than 1 million treatment courses, making 300,000 doses available in January.
So far about 55,000 doses of sotrovimab have been allocated to states, with federal health officials promising shipments would arrive as soon as this week. But as the omicron variant rapidly advances — nearly three-quarters of all COVID cases are now omicron — health officials are bracing for a winter surge while potentially lacking ample defense from treatments that hold up against the new variant.
Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told ABC News that state leaders gearing up for omicron face a multi-pronged challenge: what was a “compelling tool” against the virus is now compromised, and what now works is still in limited supply. In addition, with hospital staffing shortages, there are looming concerns that manpower to administer the treatment will also be scarce.
“We can’t just hope it’s delta and give the older therapies,” he said. “Even if all of these monoclonal treatments still worked against all the variants, and we had an abundant supply, I’d worry we would get to a place where we just didn’t have the capacity to administer them.”
Evusheld, the pre-exposure monoclonal treatment from AstraZeneca, authorized earlier this month and expected to hold up against omicron is another treatment that could help out health officials. It can be given to a small subset of people for preventative use against the virus, such as those where the vaccines are not effective because of compromised immune systems.
“We’re in a very tight situation now where the virus is increasing faster than our access to the drugs that can treat it,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, a fellow with the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a treatment guidelines panel member with the National Institutes of Health, told ABC News. “Once we have an adequate supply of sotrovimab, of Evusheld and of Paxlovid, we’ll have some pretty good tools for fighting omicron. But the virus is going to wash over the country before we have an adequate supply. So I’m worried January is going to be ugly.”
A spokeswoman for GSK told ABC News the company is “working with urgency and exploring options to expand our supply capacity in 2022,” including securing additional batches of the ingredients they’ll need to amp up sotrovimab manufacturing, and pushing up their next year supply plans to make more available sooner.
“The challenge is that the supplies [of sotrovimab] are still very limited,” Pavia said. “It’s going to require some very careful prioritization of who needs the drug the most.”
It’s not the first time new variants have hindered mainstay COVID treatments: for several months earlier this year federal health officials paused distribution of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody treatment when it was shown to be ineffective against the gamma and beta variants. The Food and Drug Administration recommended health care providers use alternative authorized antibodies — like Regeneron and GSK — which had shown to hold up against the main variants of concern.
The government spent billions of dollars purchasing Regeneron and Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody cocktail to ensure there would be enough supply; GSK’s had not been as widely purchased and distributed. When delta became the dominant variant of concern and all three antibody therapies were effective against it, Eli Lilly’s authorization was renewed.
Health officials have increasingly turned to these therapies as breakthrough cases have ticked up and vaccination rates have not ticked up enough. These antibodies are synthetic versions of the body’s natural line of defense, meant for COVID patients early on in their infections and who are at high risk of getting even sicker in order to help keep them out of the hospital.
The currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines and their booster doses have still shown to be highly effective at preventing severe illness and death.
But as omicron gains steam, some hospitals, like Mount Sinai in New York, have already put a pause on using Regeneron and Eli Lilly’s treatments, given they are not effective against the variant. Some jurisdictions, however, are still clamoring for more supply amid the new crush of cases.
Miami-Dade County exhausted its supply of Regeneron’s treatment this week, shutting down its infusion site for a day while more was secured, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office told ABC News. They now have enough to last until Monday.
“What’s emerging is a realization that this virus is going to be with us for a while, and it’s going to be challenging,” Plescia said. “We’re just going to have to get through this as best we can and find new tools to meet that challenge.”
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
Lingering health concerns about commercial air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled a boom in private jet travel, a trend that has led to fresh scrutiny of the industry’s taxpayer bailout — which some critics are calling a “handout to the wealthy.”
The multi-trillion-dollar federal rescue for businesses clobbered by the coronavirus included billions for airlines grounded by travel restrictions and safety concerns — and, according to one report, more than half a billion dollars for boutique aviation firms that deliver private jet travel to the super-rich.
“This was the rest of us paying to subsidize the luxury consumption of the very richest people in the country,” Dean Baker, cofounder of the progressive think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research, told ABC News.
During the summer of 2020, at the time of the first of three bailout programs set aside for aviation, industry experts said that private jet operators — just like the commercial airlines — would be confronting substantial drops in revenue. Executives at private aviation firms said they needed the government’s help to save the jobs of their employees.
But at the same time, many of those same executives said publicly that they saw signs of a coming boom, fueled by concerns about the pandemic.
That forecast is now coming to pass, making the once-niche industry an overnight sensation thanks to those who can afford to shell out up to $20,000 for a flight across the country. Industry analysts say private aviation has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels of popularity.
“Private aviation has bounced back faster than many industries, including the airlines,” said Travis Kuhn, vice president of market intelligence at the aviation consulting firm ARGUS International. “At this point in time, private air travel is about 15% larger today than it was two years ago — and it is almost all directly attributed to the pandemic.”
Furthermore, Kuhn said that after flocking to private aviation “for the perceived health advantages” of avoiding crowded airports and commercial planes, wealthy Americans “have since discovered the time-saving and productivity advantages” — a sign that the increased interest in private aviation may be here to stay.
In 2020, private aviation firms collected a total of up to $643 million in government funds from the Payroll Support Program, the Paycheck Protection Program, and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for small businesses, according to an analysis from Accountable.US, a government watchdog group. Subsequent iterations of the Payroll Support Program released even more funds to the private jet industry.
The overwhelming majority of funds delivered to private aviation firms came as grants that do not need to be repaid, as long as beneficiaries refrained from “conducting involuntary furloughs or terminations of employees” through September of 2021.
But some critics are calling on the firms that rebounded quickly to voluntarily return some of the money.
“These days, it seems many private jet companies are celebrating even greater fortune and opportunity regardless of government aid received,” said Kyle Herrig, the president of Accountable.US. “It’s time to pay taxpayers back.”
Among the biggest bailout recipients was OneSky Flight, an Ohio-based business aviation portfolio of brands like FlexJet, Sentient Jet, and PrivateFly, which received $81 million from a pot of money set aside in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help airlines. In a 2021 extension of the program, FlexJet, Sentient Jet and PrivateFly collected more than $50 million more in grants.
Executives at the OneSky companies have described the business as catering to a high-net-worth clientele, largely comprised of corporate clients and wealthy fliers. The companies’ social media feeds are peppered with endorsements from celebrity customers like astronaut Buzz Aldrin and golfer Bubba Watson, and references to their sponsorship of thoroughbred horse racing and an annual snow polo tournament in Aspen.
When OneSky reached out to the federal government for bailout dollars, company executives emphasized the needs of their pilots and flight controllers.
Directional Aviation, OneSky’s parent company, did not respond this week to a request for comment from ABC News.
Dan Hubbard, a spokesperson for the National Business Aviation Association, an industry trade group, told ABC News that “these businesses requested federal aid for the same reason countless other small businesses did: to keep employees on the job.”
“This crisis-moment investment worked — as it has in a host of industries — supporting employees and paving the way for their companies’ gradual recovery,” Hubbard said. “To have denied aviation businesses the same kind of lifeline offered to all other kinds of enterprises would have struck a blow to an entire segment of America’s aviation workforce.”
But critics have pushed back on that premise, arguing that private jet operators could have afforded to support their employees for a short stretch if they anticipated that business would rebound — which many industry executives said publicly at the time.
“It’s true that it does support jobs, but it would also support jobs if we agreed to pick up 25% of the tab for [Amazon CEO] Jeff Bezos’ personal servants,” Baker said of the bailouts. “There are much better ways to create jobs than subsidizing the very rich. If these people value having their private jets, then they will pay what it costs to keep the industry in business.”
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the success of these firms so soon after accepting government support undermines the spirit of the programs.
“These programs are not designed, nor should they be, to make anyone better off, or even whole. They are a bridge to when our economy is on better footing,” said Ellis, who characterized the bailout as a “handout to the wealthy.”
“The private aviation industry benefited from increased interest during the pandemic … so they got taxpayer cash, and business soared,” he said.
Despite the criticism, some industry experts believe the stimulus of private aviation was warranted. Industry market experts have confirmed that private jet operators, just like the well-known commercial airlines, faced significant revenue drops at the height of the pandemic from mid-March through May of 2020.
Doug Gollan, the editor of Private Jet Card Comparisons, a blog covering the world of private aviation, said the success of the industry now is a reflection of how successful the CARES Act was in getting these businesses back on their feet.
“The money was meant to help companies navigate through the crisis,” Gollan said. “So, for the CARES Act, private aviation was the poster child of what a success story should look like.”
But questions about whether federal support should have more carefully targeted industries that would struggle returning to pre-pandemic levels stem in part from statements made by the private jet operators themselves, who’ve been publicly touting their success as the country emerges from the pandemic.
Kenn Ricci, the CEO of OneSky Flight’s parent company, recently told Bloomberg Media that business is now so good that he plans to expand his fleet by 40% over the next year.
And the recent success of private aviation has led the demand for new aircraft to drastically outpace supply, Bloomberg reported.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime grab,” Ricci said.
Lawmakers have previously taken aim at aviation firms that boasted of strong financial returns after accepting funds under the Payroll Support Program. In Oct. 2020, Rep. Jim Clyburn, the chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, urged four cargo carriers to return hundreds of millions of dollars in government funds.
“It is troubling that Kalitta Air is receiving over $161 million in taxpayer funds intended to cover the wages and benefits of its workers, while simultaneously experiencing increased demand for its services,” Clyburn wrote to one of the companies. “Failing to return the funds to the Treasury would be inconsistent with Congress’ clear intent.”
When contacted this week by ABC News, the committee did not provide an update on the companies’ response. A committee spokesperson also declined to comment on whether the committee would be requesting that private aviation firms return pandemic relief money.
In the meantime, the juxtaposition of executives promoting their success after accepting government funds isn’t lost on some industry leaders. Patrick Gallagher, the president of NetJets, one of Ricci’s biggest competitors, has said that he is “hopeful, as a taxpayer, that some of those CARES Act funds get paid back.”
“We see our competitors touting their recent success and returning to pre-pandemic levels,” Gallagher said. “I’m glad that those funds were available to keep people employed, but many of these companies today are outdoing bolt-on acquisitions and spinning off new ventures.”
“Personally,” Gallagher said, “I am hopeful they are also paying back the tens of millions of dollars that they took to make payroll just a few months ago.”
