U.S. Government agrees to new loans to 7 airlines.

The U.S. Treasury said Tuesday it had closed a deal to provide loans to seven major airlines in the country hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported.

See also: United Airlines pilots accept agreement to avoid layoffs.

The Treasury said in a statement that the seven airlines were Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways Corp , Hawaiian Airlines, SkyWest Airlines and United Airlines.

The airlines and unions were pushing Congress hard before Wednesday’s deadline for a new $25 billion bailout to keep workers on the payroll for another six months.

See also: IATA lowers its forecast for 2020 after a disastrous summer.

U.S. airlines received $25 billion in March under the CARES Act, mostly in the form of grants to keep employees on the payroll through September and avoid layoffs.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress on Tuesday to extend the payroll assistance program “so we can continue to support workers in the aviation industry as our economy reopens and we continue on the road to recovery.

The Treasury said it expects “initial loan amounts to increase as a result of some major airlines determining not to go forward with loans” and could increase to $7.5 billion per airline.

Airlines have also turned to the capital markets to bolster liquidity, but passenger traffic continues to decline by 68 percent from pre-pandemic levels.