Hawaiian Airlines will require all U.S.-based employees to receive Covid-19 vaccinations by Nov. 1, CEO Peter Ingram said in a memo to employees.

The mandate, which requires employees to have either received a single-dose vaccine or both doses of a two-dose vaccine by the deadline, comes as Hawaii, like much of the rest of the United States, is seeing a significant upturn in Covid-19 cases. 

Hawaii Gov. David Ige has issued an order that state employees get vaccinated or take weekly tests, and several private employers in the state have adopted similar policies.

Hawaii currently has fewer quarantine facilities to deal with Covid-19 cases than it did during previous peaks of the pandemic, as tourism returning to the island has filled up many of the hotels that were being used for those purposes, according to Honolulu-based KHON.

Hawaiian Airlines follows United Airlines, which last week issued a vaccine mandate for employees with a deadline of Oct. 25 or earlier, if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues full approval of one of the vaccines in the coming weeks. Hawaiian and United each have carved out exemptions for employees who cannot be vaccinated for health or religious reasons.

Frontier Airlines last week also issued a policy directing employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by Oct. 1. Frontier, however, is providing an out to employees who do not want to be vaccinated, instead requiring them to be tested for Covid-19 on a regular basis.

Source: Business Travel News

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