On Wednesday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby defended the company’s vaccine mandate to lawmakers. During the Senate Commerce hearing, Kirby said that “We did this for safety. We believe it saved lives”.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz called United’s vaccine mandate “disturbing” and “disregarding the rights of your employees”. Cruz said that Southwest and American do not plan on firing employees who will not meet the vaccine requirement.
United Airlines is the first major airline to announce a vaccine mandate. The carrier approved around 2,000 religious and medical exemptions to their employees. According to Kirby, the airline granted around 80% of the requests.
Court of Appeals Revives Vaccine Mandate on 26 States
Even if 99.7% of United’s employees are already vaccinated, there are still some employees who are against the new policy. In an interview, Kirby said that the vaccine mandate “felt like the right thing to do”.
Six employees sued the airline in September over its policy. In November, a federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of United Airlines. And recently, a US appeals court denied the request of the six United employees who wanted to block the carrier’s vaccine mandate.
Hearing for a Variety of Aviation-Related Issues
The hearing covered a variety of industry-related issues. This includes how airlines spent the $54 billion aid during the height of the pandemic. American CEO Doug Parker said that “It’s not an exaggeration to say the program saved the airline industry”.
According to the airlines, they are on a hiring spree but are struggling to find enough pilots. Kirby said that United grounded around 100 regional planes “because there’s not enough pilots to fly them”. He added that “The country is going to need thousands of pilots”.
Some airlines trimmed their schedule to avoid mass cancelations and delays. In addition to this, some airlines also announced incentives to their employees who will work during the holidays.
