Now that COVID19 cases in the US are up, a survey discovered that 81.8% of Americans support the idea of vaccine passports. Even a federal judge recently sided with Norwegian Cruise Line, allowing them to ask passengers to show proof of vaccination.
For the airline industry, mandatory vaccination seems like going to be a norm in the coming months. United Airlines will now require vaccination on their employees. However, three airlines still won’t require vaccination on their unvaccinated workers. CEOs of Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines announced that they are still not going to require COVID vaccination despite the recent surge.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said that their policy on mandating vaccination hasn’t changed. However, Kelly said that they highly encourage employees to get the vaccine.
Delta Air Lines Starts to Require Vaccination on New Hires
Delta is the first airline to announce its vaccination requirement for its new hires in May. However, the airline doesn’t require vaccination for existing employees. Even without a mandate, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said that 75% of their workforce already received complete doses of the COVID19 vaccine.
United made a similar announcement by June. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said that “I think there’s some additional steps and measures we can take to get the vaccine rates even higher”.
American Airlines rewards vaccinated employees with an extra day of vacation in 2022. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said that “We are strongly encouraging our team members to get vaccinated and we are offering an incentive for those who do”.
Frontier Airlines’ Take on Mandatory Vaccination
Frontier Airlines has a different take on requiring employees to get vaccinated. The airline wants employees vaccinated by October 1. The airline announced that unvaccinated employees by October 1 can still go to work. But of course, there is a catch. Unvaccinated employees after October 1 will need to provide a negative COVID19 test to continue working for the company.
