Like many other countries, the U.S. chartered ‘repatriation flights’ to bring U.S. citizens home during the coronavirus pandemic. When commercial flights were no longer available to certain destinations, these flights were arranged by the State Department.
In some countries flights like this are ‘free’ (paid by taxpayers). U.S. citizens must pay the cost of their own repatriation flights by law. But the U.S. government has handled the billing about as well as everything else during the pandemic.