Regional airlines aren’t requiring shots yet
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United Airlines workers service a United Express Embraer170 passenger plane parked at Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico.
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There are several major U.S. airline companies. increasingly mandating Covid-19 vaccines for employees. Some of the regional carriers that fly under their names have not — at least not yet.
Large airlines like United AmericanAnd DeltaContract smaller airlines to run shorter routes within their network. Tickets for these flights are available on the website of the larger carrier and any other platforms. Some of these smaller airlines have wholly-owned subsidiaries like American’s Envoy, Delta’s Endeavor Air and others such as SkyWestAnd Mesa Air GroupIndependent.
Representatives of Mesa and Envoy as well SkyWest, United Contractor CommutAir indicated that although they haven’t yet set requirements for employees, they are looking into whether federal regulations will force them to prescribe vaccines.
According to the Biden administration, federal contractors are required by Dec. 8th to make sure that all staff members have been vaccinated against Covid. Joe Biden, President of the United States said also that companiesFor companies with 100 or more employees, they will be required to mandate vaccinations for everyone. They also have to regularly test any staff who aren’t. At the most, regional carriers will fall under the second.
Jonathan Ornstein (CEO of Mesa Air Group), said that it is unclear what regional airlines will need to do. According to Ornstein, executives at the Phoenix-based airline have been waiting for more information from federal lawyers, customers and federal officials on the rules, but they will follow federal mandates.
Ornstein stated that he is concerned about losing employees if a company with more than 3000 employees requires staff vaccinations, without any federal mandate. This would mean competitors will have to comply.
“I worry that, if we mandated vaccinations and other jobs were available that did not require vaccines, it could lead to a situation where there would be no need for them. [some employees]He said, “I would leave.”
American Alaska JetBlueAnd SouthwestOver the last week, each airline informed staff they needed to be immunized in order for them to comply with federal contractor rules. These airlines had previously encouraged employees to get vaccinated, but did not require them. United has stated that it had placed its own vaccination mandate into effect in August. It claims that over 96% have been vaccinated since the last deadline. Chicago-based United Airlines stated that it encourages its contractors to also mandate vaccines.
Federal contractors provide many services, including tickets and cargo flights for employees. Southwest doesn’t use regional airlines from third parties.
Federal contractors
Some of these flights are operated by regional airlines under the City Pair program, which sets airfares for federal employees to approximately 12,000 markets. For example, a search for a Delta flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport to Detroit showed an option operated by Endeavor Air. SkyWest was the operator of a United flight between California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport and Los Angeles. U.S. General Services Administration administers City Pair Program. They didn’t reply to a request for comment.
The most recent United daily schedule revealed that 54% of its more than 4,000 departures were made by regionals. In addition, 40 percent of Delta’s 4,100 flight per day are operated by Delta Connection regional carriers. American schedules show that 52% of their flights are operated by them, but the numbers can change. Their share of overall capacity can be lower — just under 15% for United last year — because mainline carriers operate longer flights.
Henry Harteveldt founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry consulting company said that “a critical mass” of U.S. airline flight operations are managed by third-party operators who follow their standards and have their own business models. This includes how they approach vaccinations.
Mainline versus regional
Atlanta-based Delta currently doesn’t require vaccinations for around 80,000 of its employees. According to the company, more than 80% are currently vaccinated. It will begin charging $200 more per month to employees who are not vaccinated for their company’s health insurance. Endeavor doesn’t have to pay the surcharge.
American Airlines told 100,000 staff members that they must upload their proof of vaccinations no later than Nov. 24, and threatened to terminate them if they failed to comply.
This applies only to employees of its mainline airlines, and not regional carriers. Envoy is one of these carriers and said that it was still reviewing the guidelines.
Harteveldt indicated that although it’s not known how many employees of regional airlines are currently vaccinated but they must comply with any mandates.
United was the one who laid the foundation for United’s vaccine mandate, even before its announcement. United also collaborated with unions in order to create vaccine incentives for members, and ensure that they had access to vaccines.
Harteveldt stated that United worked collaboratively with the unions but was still a lengthy process. “It was not an hourlong Zoom conversation.”
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