The CARES Act provided $58 billion in payroll support grants and loans to passenger and cargo airlines. It provided $10 billion for airports. Much less well known is the $3 billion set aside for airline contractors. Companies that do business with airlines could take bailouts, too.
The Department of the Treasury reported on the 112 companies they’ve awarded funds to so far, totaling $871,728,681.
A few of the companies taking your money, because of their strategic importance to the U.S. economy, stand out to me.
- HAECO is the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited, which is owned by Swire Group (that also owns Cathay Pacific). Two separate HAECO companies based in the U.S. received grants.
- SIA Enginering is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, which is majority-owned by the Singapore government’s investment company Temasek Holdings,
- Borenstein Caterers is the source of most airline kosher meals.
- Smarte Carte is the self-serve luggage cart vending machine company that’s ubiquitous at baggage claim.
- Funds went to AMI Wines – which, among other things, distributes wine to airlines. That money is separate from funds allocated to AMI Inflight.
Here’s the complete list:
| Company | Payroll Support | |
| WORLDWIDE FLIGHT SERVICES INC. | $107,243,890 | |
| FLYING FOOD FARE INC. | $85,020,818 | |
| G2 SECURE STAFF L.L.C | $81,380,837 | |
| PRIMEFLIGHT AVIATION SERVICES INC. | $65,708,621 | |
| AVIATION TECHNICAL SERVICES INC. | $39,949,510 | |
| HAECO AIRFRAME SERVICES LLC | $35,993,499 | |
| AIRPORT TERMINAL SERVICES INC. | $33,677,349 | |
| GAT AIRLINE GROUND SUPPORT INC. | $27,208,037 | |
| AMERICAN SALES AND MANAGEMENT ORG. LLC | $25,812,052 | |
| CONSTANT AVIATION LLC | $23,271,516 | |
| PROSEGUR SERVICES GROUP INC | $22,620,474 | |
| TOTAL AIRPORT SERVICES LLC | $20,828,745 | |
| FLIGHTSTAR AIRCRAFT SERVICES LLC | $15,583,313 | |
| SMARTE CARTE INC. | $14,837,166 | |
| HUNTLEIGH USA CORPORATION | $13,680,036 | |
| JETSTREAM GROUND SERVICES INC. | $13,117,705 | |
| AERSALE INC. | $12,692,702 | |
| PACIFIC AVIATION LLC | $12,687,657 | |
| AIRPORT TERMINAL MANAGEMENT INC. | $12,393,304 | |
| MERCURY AIR CARGO INC | $12,209,963 | |
| AIR GENERAL INC. | $10,605,566 | |
| S A S SERVICES GROUP INC | $10,015,992 | |
| U.S. AVIATION SERVICES CORP. | $9,544,678 | |
| HACOR INC. | $8,899,322 | |
| FLIGHT SERVICES AND SYSTEMS | $8,457,698 | |
| NATIONAL AVIATION SERVICES LLC. | $8,339,425 | |
| BARFIELD INC. | $7,944,843 | |
| GLOBAL SECURITY CONSULTING GROUP INC. | $7,347,488 | |
| PAX ASSIST INC | $6,988,241 | |
| TREGO DUGAN AVIATION OF GRAND ISLAND INC. | $6,910,746 | |
| ULTRA AVIATION SERVICES INC. | $6,471,889 | |
| TRIANGLE SERVICES OF FLORIDA INC | $6,395,074 | |
| MICHAEL LEWIS COMPANY | $6,388,869 | |
| SUMMIT SECURITY SERVICES INC. | $5,517,153 | |
| GATEWAY SECURITY INC | $5,435,098 | |
| BIRD ACQUISITION LLC | $5,165,454 | |
| BIZJET INTERNATIONAL SALES & SUPPORT INC | $4,378,272 | |
| CALOP BUSINESS SYSTEMS INC. | $4,246,029 | |
| THE FLIGHTSTAR CORPORATION | $4,078,501 | |
| SIA ENGINEERING (USA) INC | $3,929,425 | |
| ACCUFLEET INTERNATIONAL INC. | $3,828,092 | |
| FLIGHT CHECK COMMERCIAL AVIATION SERVICES LLC | $3,613,459 | |
| TRUMAN ARNOLD COMPANIES | $2,777,912 | |
| BORENSTEIN CATERERS INC | $2,758,079 | |
| GLOBAL K9 PROTECTION GROUP LLC | $2,750,538 | |
| FSM GROUP LLC | $2,601,000 | |
| JET WAY SECURITY & INVESTIGATIONS LLC | $2,366,178 | |
| LISBON CLEANING INC | $2,352,949 | |
| O’HARA AVIATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES LC | $1,904,989 | |
| MACH II MAINTENANCE CORP | $1,700,257 | |
| CAROLINA CATERING CORP. | $1,699,013 | |
| TRIANGLE AVIATION SERVICES INC | $1,359,409 | |
| CLEAREDDIRECT LLC | $1,341,885 | |
| AVIATION LOGISTICS LLC | $1,311,053 | |
| JET WAY AVIATION SERVICES LLC | $1,216,926 | |
| MSN AIR SERVICE INC | $1,182,265 | |
| BAC TRANSPORTATION LLC | $1,056,326 | |
| AERONAUTICAL TECHNOLOGY INC (PAT) – FAA REPAIR STATION #DQ3R458L | $977,974 | |
| USAIRPORTS FLIGHT SUPPORT LLC | $896,926 | |
| COMMONWEALTH AVIATION SERVICE INC. | $869,199 | |
| AMI INFLIGHT INC | $863,089 | |
| PACIFIC ATLANTIC HANDLING LLC | $832,304 | |
| WINNER AVIATION CORPORATION | $781,568 | |
| SOUTHERN SKY AVIATION MAINTENANCE LLC | $750,841 | |
| TAUGHANNOCK AVIATION CORP | $700,425 | |
| BURBANK SECURITY SERVICES INC. | $691,880 | |
| AVIATION MAIN SERVICES INC | $684,887 | |
| AIR WILMINGTON INC. | $675,066 | |
| NEW SONOMA FBO INC. | $641,220 | |
| FOUR POINTS AERO SERVICES LLC | $625,508 | |
| REGIONAL JET CENTER INC. | $610,284 | |
| MONACO AIR DULUTH LLC | $596,526 | |
| AVIATION TECHNOLOGIES INC | $581,628 | |
| BISMARCK AERO CENTER CORP. | $578,819 | |
| THOMAS GLOBAL SYSTEMS LLC | $576,965 | |
| AIRPORT AVIATION SERVICES INC. | $545,457 | |
| METAL INNOVATIONS INC. | $530,506 | |
| TRI-STATE AERO INC | $528,413 | |
| AERO INDUSTRIES INCORPORATED | $474,915 | |
| INDEPENDENT CARGO SECURITY SCREENING LLC | $455,397 | |
| HAECO AMERICAS LINE SERVICES LLC | $445,289 | |
| HOLMAN ENTERPRISES INC | $441,934 | |
| JETSCAPE SERVICES LLC | $400,735 | |
| RIO CLEANING COMPANY LLC | $382,631 | |
| ORD LIFT & GSE INC | $378,566 | |
| PROPELLER AIRPORTS PAINE FIELD LLC | $343,699 | |
| LIMA CLEANING LLC | $323,656 | |
| BRANSON JETCENTER LLC | $315,346 | |
| IDA FOODS LLC | $315,167 | |
| PIA AVCENTER LLC | $298,177 | |
| BELLINGHAM AVIATION SERVICES LLC | $296,793 | |
| RICHMOND JET CENTER INC. | $292,744 | |
| AERO PORT SERVICES INC. | $279,929 | |
| QUANTUM AVIATION SOLUTIONS INC. | $279,633 | |
| JET CENTER AT SANTA FE OPERATIONS LLC | $277,354 | |
| FLITELINE SERVICES INC. CWS | $245,206 | |
| OCEAN STATE AVIATION | $223,450 | |
| TALLAHASSEE AVIATION PARTNERS LLC | $213,150 | |
| GOURMET CATERING TO GO LLC | $194,726 | |
| FUEL FX INC. | $166,373 | |
| SPRINGFIELD AIRPORT AUTHORITY | $166,275 | |
| HOLMAN ENTERPRISES INC ACWS-1 | $157,754 | |
| LATITUDE AERO LLC | $150,658 | |
| GARAGE SCENES LTD. | $147,298 | |
| AMI WINES LLC | $145,001 | |
| WESTJET AIR CENTER INC | $137,836 | |
| MOUNTAIN WEST EKO LLC | $87,757 | |
| BAY LAND AVIATION INC | $82,960 | |
| 247 ON SITE LLC | $82,837 | |
| TOTAL AIR SERVICES INC. | $65,448 | |
| EINARSON BROTHERS FLYING SERVICE INC. | $64,906 | |
| GAITROS AVIATION LLC | $58,309 |
The Singapore government, Cathay Pacific’s engineering firm, and a wine distributor all got federal CARES Act subsidies. And there’s still $2 billion undistributed.
Gary, you might be interested to know that Borenstein Caterers is actually owned by El Al!
As a shareholder of Swire Pacific, Ltd., I wish to thank the American people for their kind contribution to my securities portfolio and to allow me to pass my losses onto the US taxpayer to absorb (despite the fact that I’ll never share my dividend checks or capital gains). I’d particularly like to thank the American children who will actually be paying for this one day, especially since they were wisely given no say in this decision (lest they question its profound wisdom). I can only say that I’m in awe as to how complacent the American people are to allow their wealth — and their children’s wealth — to be so casually transferred to serve the whims of politicians so that owners of for profit companies needn’t be bothered by the traditional risk of unexpected business and investment losses.
While we were protesting, the Fed has been busy selling us all into indentured servitude. Looking back, the big story of 2020 won’t be the virus or the protests. It will be how the Fed destroyed America’s future in just a few short weeks.
There has to be a reason why the US govt is doing this. It’s akin to allowing foreigners to purchase US property even though these purchasers don’t have US status. All the US govt has to do is find some “problem” with the purchase or deny these purchasers immigrant or visitor visas and that’s the end of their investments. Remember the properties are on US soil. It’s not as if the Chinese, Saudi or Russian purchasers are going to come to the US and “reclaim” those properties.
It just gets me that all the big companies were buying back their stock and now they are all paupers needing government help. Why can’t I do this?
Shaking my head at this. I just can’t believe it. And no one cares.