Unions representing pilots at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are asking for exemptions to President Joe Biden’s pending vaccine mandate, saying that holiday travel could be disrupted otherwise.
“To ensure commercial aviation’s ongoing viability by avoiding a scenario in which airlines are forced to either offer unpaid leaves of absence or, worse, implement mass termination of unvaccinated pilots, it is essential that an alternate means of compliance … be made available for professional pilots,” Eric Ferguson, president of the association, wrote in the letter.
“All of those members are still able to perform their duties as professional pilots,” Ferguson wrote. “To force those pilots out of their positions, rather than offering viable alternatives, will have adverse consequences upon their families and the airline industry as a whole.” “Airlines generate a substantial portion of their annual revenue during the holiday period, with a great many travelers depending on us to get them to their destinations,” he wrote. “Our nations’ airlines, and the traveling public, cannot afford significant service disruptions due toEchoing the language from the APA letter, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association told Politico that its members are also concerned about a vaccine mandate.