Hawaiian Airlines is the latest airline to require vaccinations for its employees.Hawaiian Airlines vaccination policyHawaiian Airlines requires all employees who are based in the United States be fully vaccinated before November 1, 2021. The United States will provide a vaccine program that is compatible with the availability of vaccines in each country for employees outside the United States. The majority of the 6,800 employees are located in the United States.Hawaiian Airlines CEO Peter Ingram sent an email to employees yesterday revealing the latest information. Here's how he described this decision:Nothing is more a demonstration of our values that ensuring safety for others. Safety is the cornerstone of air travel and is an integral part of our service and operation. This is not an exception. We can protect ourselves and others by getting vaccinated. This is called malama.Hawaiian Airlines employees are allowed to apply for religious and medical exemptions. However, they will still need to be tested regularly. Details of the testing program are still being sorted out.Hawaiians will require that employees are vaccinatedCompare this policy to other airlinesHawaiian Airlines is now the third major airline to require vaccinations for its employees. This follows the lead of Frontier Airlines and United Airlines. Here's a comparison:United will require employees to be vaccinated within five week of September 20, 2021 or five weeks after the FDA approves a COVID-19 vaccination. The airline makes a small exception for religious and medical reasons.Frontier requires employees to be vaccinated by October 1, 2020. However, anyone who doesn't want to get vaccinated may opt to have their blood tested regularly. This is not a requirement at United.Hawaiian, the third airline, will be the first to adopt this policy in November.Other airlines have not followed suit. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker stated that they don't intend to mandate vaccines for their employees in an interview a few days ago.We have been offering great incentives to our employees for getting vaccinated since the beginning. Every American Airlines employee who has been vaccinated before August 31st receives one extra day in 2022, and a $50 gift certificate. We believe that this is the best way to encourage people to get vaccinated. That's why we pushed that hard. While we encourage it wherever possible, and encourage it for both our customers as well as our employees, we do not have mandates.I'm curious if that position holds.Frontier will be the first major US airline that requires vaccinationBottom lineHawaiian Airlines requires all employees to have their vaccines up to November 1, 2021. Only medical or religious reasons will allow for an exception, so employees who are eligible for this exemption will need to be tested frequently.Three major US airlines now require employees to be vaccinated. Im curious if American, Delta, Southwest, etc., follow.Are you sure that all major US airlines will be required to comply with the same requirement after approval by FDA? Or could there be some exceptions?
