Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly informed CNBC on Tuesday he believes companies shouldn’t impose Covid vaccine mandates on their workers, however he mentioned his firm is doing so to adjust to federal rules put in place by the Biden administration.

“I’ve by no means been in favor of companies imposing that form of a mandate. I am not in favor of that. By no means have been,” Kelly mentioned in an interview on “Squawk on the Street.” “However the govt order from President Biden mandates that each one federal workers after which all federal contractors, which covers all the key airways, must have a [vaccine] mandate … in place by Dec. 8, so we’re working via that.”

Southwest mentioned final week that its 56,000 workers wanted to be vaccinated in opposition to Covid by Dec. 8 with a purpose to preserve working on the airline underneath the federal mandate. Southwest’s announcement got here a couple of days after different carriers — together with American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways — knowledgeable workers about the necessity to adhere to federal vaccine guidelines.

In August, earlier than the Biden administration’s motion, United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines instituted Covid vaccine necessities for his or her staffs. United mentioned earlier this month that greater than 96% of its 67,000 U.S. workers have shared proof of vaccination after its late September deadline.

Southwest began to supply incentives resembling further pay to spur uptake of the coronavirus vaccine in mid-September, following within the footsteps of different carriers resembling Delta Air Lines, American and United.

Delta later mentioned that starting Nov. 1 unvaccinated employees must pay an additional $200 per thirty days for firm medical health insurance.

Kelly famous Southwest’s efforts to encourage workers to obtain a Covid shot, including that people are also in a position to apply for non secular and medical exemptions.

“My objective, clearly, is that nobody loses their job. The target right here, clearly, is to enhance well being and security, not for folks to lose their jobs,” mentioned Kelly, who’s retiring in February and handing the reins to three-decade Southwest veteran Bob Jordan.

Kelly’s feedback Tuesday come as Southwest faces warmth for widespread flight cancellations in latest days and Monday’s sharp decline in the company’s stock price.

There have been indicators that Southwest’s operations had been bettering Tuesday, as 87 flights, or simply 2% of its schedule, had been canceled. Its shares had been up about 1%.

From Saturday via Monday Southwest scrapped about 2,200 flights, with greater than half that quantity on Sunday alone.

In keeping with Southwest, the cancellations may be traced to dangerous climate and points with air site visitors management in Florida. That triggered planes and crews to be within the flawed place, escalating into extra pervasive issues. In August, the airline decreased its schedule in hopes of fixing operational struggles over the summer time that repeatedly led to dozens of cancellations.

Prior to now couple of days, the corporate pushed again on hypothesis that the latest disruptions had been associated to employees calling out sick as a method to protest its resolution to institute a Covid vaccine requirement.

Kelly additionally denied that was the case in Tuesday’s CNBC interview: “Now we have some very sturdy views on that matter, however that is not what was at subject with Southwest over the weekend.”

Kelly has repeatedly urged his employees to get vaccinated. “[But] I don’t imagine it’s as much as me, as CEO of an organization, to mandate to those who they get vaccinated,” he mentioned in an worker message final month. “That is my private philosophy and my private perception.”

— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.