Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act

Passed on September 21, 2001 without amendment, the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act was intended to help stabilize the economy by limiting the airlines’ legal exposure following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 

The Act set out to:

• issue Federal credit instruments (including subsidy amounts for such instruments) in the aggregate not to exceed $10 billion to such air carriers
  
• compensate them in the aggregate of $5 billion for direct losses incurred as a result of any Federal ground stop order issued by the Government and any incremental losses incurred as a direct result of such attacks. 
  
• designate the amount of new budget authority and outlays in all fiscal years resulting from this title as an emergency requirement pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).
  

Additionally, under Title IV of the Act, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (9/11 VCF) was created to:

• establish a compensation program, administered by the Attorney General through a Special Master, for any individual who was injured or killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001.
  
• authorize appropriations.
  
• set forth certain program requirements, including restricting air carrier liability for compensatory or punitive damages arising from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to the limits of liability coverage maintained by the air carrier.