Hawaiian Airlines has at least six more months of breathing room after President Joe Biden on Thursday signed the latest, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which includes $14 billion in direct payroll support for airlines.

The jobs for some 810 unionized Hawaiian employees were at risk as a March 31 expiration loomed for Payroll Support Program funds. The carrier detailed the impending layoffs in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice to the state last month.

Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Peter Ingram said Thursday that those jobs are safe now, at least through the end of September, when this latest round of PSP funds expire.

“Our hope is that this is going to give us time to grow and continue to rebuild as we see visitors beginning to come more to Hawaii — and we will be able to move beyond furloughs indefinitely and really start a new era of growth for Hawaiian Airlines,” said Ingram, who spoke at a celebration at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport to mark the carrier’s inaugural service to Orlando International Airport.

Hawaiian, which employed just over 7,400 people prior to the travel- dampening pandemic, already has seen its workforce come back to 6,700.

The carrier is hopeful that it can bring back even more employees as travel demand grows and more routes and schedules are restored. It’s been an uphill climb for tourism since March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic.

Hawaiian spokesman Alex Da Silva said the carrier as of last month was still flying at only about 60% of its pre-pandemic levels.

“By April we’ll have restored about 85% of our U.S. mainland flying and 49% of our neighbor island flying,” Da Silva said. “Our international flying remains restricted due to government- imposed restrictions, though we have been able to restore some service between Hawaii and South Korea and Japan.”

Ingram said the Orlando flight is a notable addition to the network because it marks the first scheduled nonstop flight between Florida and Hawaii. The flight also builds on Hawaiian’s service to the U.S. East, including Boston and New York, and is Hawaiian’s first foray into the Southeastern U.S., he said.

“The depth of some of our traditional markets isn’t going to come back to 100% fully, so this gives us an opportunity to broaden our network and reach out to new visitors,” Ingram said. “Orlando, in particular, is exciting because we have demand not only from the Orlando area and the Tampa area, but also people here in Hawaii who enjoy traveling to Orlando for all of the visitor attractions that it has to offer.”

The Shimada ohana, who boarded the plane decked out in Mickey Mouse attire, concurred.

“We planned to go last year, but we didn’t because of the pandemic,” said Maui resident Chanel Shimada. “We were excited when they announced this direct flight, and we decided to go. This is Christmas for the kids, and it’s my parents Erilyn and Cornwell Kaiwi’s 49th anniversary today.”

Gov. David Ige, who joined Ingram at the kickoff, lauded the new service as an opportunity for “geographic diversification and growth” and a “huge step in getting community members back to work.”

Ige said Safe Travels Hawaii has been successful and that Hawaiian has been an important partner.

“Hawaii continues to have the lowest rate for infections and the lowest death rate in the country,” Ige said.