Airlines in the US are currently asking the government for financial and tax relief to offset the amount of flights being cancelled.

The request was submitted on Monday by Airlines for America, which represents Delta, American, United, Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue, and cargo carriers FedEx and UPS.

As the coronavirus becomes more widespread and federal restrictions become more prevalent, airlines have been asked to cut their capacity tremendously which has affected their income.

American Airlines has suspended around 75% of it’s international flights while United Airlines says it has slashed 50% of its flying capacity through May and possibly longer.

With these developments Some airlines are also talking to unions about taking cuts in pay or hours, while some are cutting executive and management salaries.

In order to avoid dramatic scale backs in employee hours and to avoid in some cases, layoffs, the airlines are requesting $29 billion in federal grants. $25 billion of that will go towards passenger airlines while $4 billion will go towards cargo carriers.

The airlines are also requesting $29 billion in low-interest loans and for the federal excise taxes on fuel, cargo and airline tickets to be suspended through the end of next year.