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Exclusive | Cathay Pacific aircrew may have to get coronavirus vaccine if they want to keep their jobs, carrier says
- Airline warns flying schedules will be unsustainable with non-vaccinated staff
- 80 per cent of pilots have booked or received a vaccination, but only 40 per cent of cabin crew have done so
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Cathay Pacific could make Covid-19 vaccination a prerequisite for pilots and cabin crew to keep their jobs soon, and the airline warned organising flying schedules would be harder to manage with non-inoculated staff.
The carrier said 80 per cent of its 2,600 pilots had booked or received a vaccination, by far the highest among its workforce, but only 40 per cent of about 8,750 cabin crew members – as of May 13 – had received or made a booking.
“Based on our operational modelling it is clear that it won’t be long before we are unable to sustainably roster unvaccinated crew,” Chris Kempis, director of flight operations, said in a memo on Thursday. “As such it looks increasingly likely that in the future being vaccinated will be an essential requirement of the job for any Hong Kong-based aircrew.
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“It’s becoming increasingly clear that being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will need to be one of the prerequisites to being employed as a pilot in international operations.”
The airline has internally disclosed that 3,500 cabin crew started the vaccination process, and 2,000 are considered fully vaccinated.
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