Here’s how many airport, airline workers are required to get COVID vaccines at CLT
American Airlines will soon require that all U.S. employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, airline leaders told employees last week.
The company, the dominant carrier at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, joins other airlines pushing vaccinations under President Joe Biden’s vaccine requirements.
Airport workers at CLT have been encouraged, but not required to get the vaccine. According to data released by the city, roughly 67% of airport workers were vaccinated as of early September.
Here is a breakdown of companies requiring vaccinations at the Charlotte airport:
Charlotte airport workers
The Charlotte Aviation Department has 638 employees, according to data released by the city last month. Some 67% of those employees were fully vaccinated as of Sept. 1, according to the city.
An updated vaccination rate will be released soon, the airport told the Observer in an email Monday, but did not give additional details.
The city has offered financial incentives, but no requirement for employees to get vaccinated.
Employees who were fully vaccinated by Sept. 30 got $250. People who were only partially vaccinated by that deadline must get their second shot by Nov. 19 to get their reward.
And if city employees collectively reached a 75% vaccination rate by Sept. 30, those vaccinated individuals would get an additional $250.
The city has not released vaccination rates since that deadline. As of Sept. 1, 62% of Charlotte government employees were vaccinated.
American Airlines
In a letter to employees late Friday, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom told employees that the company would be required to mandate vaccination among all U.S.-based employees and some international crew members, without allowing for an alternative testing program.
The company would be classified as a government contractor under the president’s vaccine mandate, giving employees a Dec. 8 deadline to get the vaccine, Reuters reported.
“While we are still working through the details of the federal requirements, it is clear that team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines,” Parker and Isom said in the letter, obtained by the Observer on Monday.
Still, employees can request an exemption from vaccination due to disabilities or religious beliefs, American Airlines leaders told employees.
American Airlines and the airline’s wholly-owned regional partners have roughly 13,000 employees based at the Charlotte airport.
Other airlines
Other airlines that serve CLT, including JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, have announced vaccine mandates for staff, Forbes reported this week.
Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines have not yet announced plans for vaccine mandates under the Biden order.
But both holdouts have encouraged COVID-19 vaccines among staff. Southwest announced bonus pay for workers who show proof of vaccination, and Delta has required unvaccinated employees to get weekly testing and face a $200 monthly charge for health insurance, The Washington Post reported.
Transportation Security Administration
TSA employees based at CLT will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccines under the Biden mandate as federal employees. Federal employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22.
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