JetBlue joins companies offering $1000 bonus to employees

JetBlue Airways on Thursday announced it will pay out $1,000 bonuses to employees as a result of the passage of the GOP tax plan.

The airline joins a growing list of companies announcing bonuses to employees after the passage of the bill, which President Trump signed into law last month.

The company said in a statement it would pay “every Crewmember employed as of December 31, 2017, a $1,000 bonus by the end of February.”

The move comes two days after competitor Southwest Airlines announced a bonus for the same amount, which will go into effect this month. Southwest also announced Tuesday that it would step up its investment with aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

“We applaud Congress and the President for taking this action to pass legislation, which will result in meaningful corporate income tax reform for the transportation sector in general, and for Southwest Airlines, in particular,” said Gary Kelly, Southwest’s chairman and CEO, on Tuesday.

{mosads}

“We are excited about the savings and additional capital, which we intend to put to work in several forms – to reward our hard-working Employees, to reinvest in our business, to reward our Shareholders, and to keep our costs and fares low for our Customers,” he added.

Bank of America, AT&T and HVAC manufacturer AAON have all also announced bonuses following the passage of GOP tax plan, which included corporate tax cuts and cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Trump praised businesses in December for “showering” workers with bonuses over the passage of the Republican plan, an indication, Trump says, of how popular the bill is among American businesses.

“Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of ‘love’ — that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!” Trump said in a tweet last month.