Special Items (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2021

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Schedule of unusual or infrequent items, or both

The following is a listing of special items presented on our consolidated statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 (in millions):


	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2021		2020		2021		2020
Special Items
Federal payroll support grant recognition(1)	$	(357)	$	(304)	$	(644)	$	(304)
CARES Act employee retention credit(2)	(9)		—		(11)		—
Fleet impairment(3)	—		—		—		202
Total	$	(366)	$	(304)	$	(655)	$	(102)

(1) As discussed in Note 3 to our condensed consolidated financial statements, we are participants in Payroll Support Program 2 and Payroll Support Program 3, both of which are federal support programs for air carriers (the "Programs"). In the six months ended June 30, 2021, Treasury provided us with payroll support funding totaling $1.1 billion, consisting of $845 million in grants and $276 million in unsecured term loans under the Programs. The payroll support funds under these Programs are to be used exclusively for the continuation of payment of crewmember wages, salaries and benefits. The carrying values of the payroll support grants are recorded within other liabilities and will be recognized as contra-expenses within special items on our consolidated statements of operations as the funds are utilized. We utilized $357 million and $644 million of the payroll support grants under the Programs for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively.

(2) The Employee Retention Credit ("ERC") under the CARES Act is a refundable tax credit which encourages businesses to keep employees on the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible employers can qualify for up to $5,000 of credit for each employee based on qualified wages paid after March 12, 2020 and before January 1, 2021. Qualified wages are the wages paid to an employee for the time that the employee is not providing services due to an economic hardship, specifically, either (1) a full or partial suspension of operations by order of a governmental authority due to COVID-19, or (2) a significant decline in gross receipts. Our policy is to recognize the ERC when it is filed with the Internal Revenue Service. We recognized $9 million and $11 million of ERC as a contra-expense within special items on our consolidated statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively.

(3) Under the Property, Plant, and Equipment topic of the Codification, we are required to assess long-lived assets for impairment when events and circumstances indicate that the assets may be impaired. An impairment of long-lived assets exists when the sum of the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated directly by the assets are less than the book value of the assets. Our long-lived assets include both owned and leased properties which are classified as property and equipment, and operating lease assets on our consolidated balance sheets, respectively.