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With the end-of-year holiday travel season ramping up around the time of the deadline, there is concern the mandate could have a negative effect on the air travel industry during a busy period. That led to several pilot groups – including pilots at Southwest and American Airlines – to send letters to the government requesting exemptions from the requirement, claiming the jabs could have “career-ending” effects. The administration is developing a rule that would require employees at companies with more than 100 staff be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. Last month President Joe Biden signed an executive order which demands all federal workers and contractors be vaccinated. “In addition to that, are our largest customers, so we are doing everything we can to maintain them.” “Those contracts are important to us,” Kelly says. Southwest says that while advocating for personal choice in this matter, the US government is a valuable customer it does not want to lose. The Chicago-headquartered company said earlier this month that it would be firing several hundred who chose to refuse the vaccines.Ītlanta-based Delta Air Lines, meantime, has imposed a $200 monthly surcharge to unvaccinated employees who are part of the company’s health plan to make up for higher risks. Earlier this year, United mandated all US-based employees be vaccinated. “It is likely to be some combination of masking, self-declaration and testing,” Isom says.Īmerican and Southwest are approaching the vaccination debate differently than its larger competitor United Airlines. The company has not finalised the process by which it will handle staff who are not vaccinated. And certainly, they’re going to be out there helping us during the holidays,” American Airlines president Robert Isom says on 21 October when asked about unvaccinated staff.Īmerican expects only a “very small number of people” will either not be vaccinated or not receive an “accomodation request”, adds CEO Doug Parker. “We don’t expect anybody to leave American Airlines. it makes no sense that we would not respect that and not find some way to work with our people on that.”Įmployees need to file a request for an exemption by 24 November, Southwest says. “How we work through the people who don’t get vaccinated or don’t seek an accommodation we are going to have to figure out.

“We are not going to fire anybody who doesn’t get vaccinated,” he adds. The company’s process in dealing with these employees is “still evolving” and the airline continues to “strongly encourage” its workers to get the jab. “I am empathetic with those who don’t want to be vaccinated,” says Kelly. Southwest Airlines will not fire employees who decide against vaccination

Decade of Airline Excellence Awards 2020.

Critical care air transport team air force