US airlines, White House say vaccine mandate will not impact holiday travel

Two major US airlines and the White House said they do not think the Biden administration’s executive order mandating federal contractors require employee vaccinations by Dec. 8 will impact holiday travel or result in employees leaving. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines announced earlier this month they would comply with the mandate that employees be vaccinated by Dec. 8 unless they receive a religious or medical exemption. Some airlines and industry-watchers had initially feared an exodus of unvaccinated airline or government employees involved in travel just before the Christmas season but airlines later said that would not happen and cited comments from the White House this week. Southwest CE Gary Kelly said on Thursday: “We are not on a campaign here to force everybody to get vaccinated ... We want our employees to know that nobody is going to lose their job on December 9 if we’re not perfectly in compliance.” He added: “We’re not going to fire anybody who doesn’t get vaccinated.” He said the vaccination issue will not disrupt travel. White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients on Wednesday told reporters the vaccine requirements for federal employees and federal contractors would not impact holiday travel. “Vaccination requirements will not impact holiday travel,” Zients said.<br/>