Emirates says it has become “among the first airlines in the world to operate a flight with fully vaccinated frontline teams servicing customers at every touchpoint of the travel journey”.
The carrier said that flight EK215 to LA was “safely supported” by vaccinated check-in, security, lounge and boarding gate employees, as well as engineers, pilots and cabin crew.
In addition all aircraft appearance, loading and special handling teams from Dnata had been vaccinated, as well as Skycargo teams working on the cargo and logistics requirements for EK215.
Last month Emirates announced plans to vaccinate all UAE-based pilots and crew, as part of the country’s target to vaccinate over 50 per cent of its population by the end of March.
The carrier said that nearly 26,000 staff have now received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinopharm vaccines, equating to 44 per cent of the group’s UAE frontline aviation workforce.
Commenting on the news Adel Al Redha, chief operating officer for Emirates, said:
“Our operational workforce are at the aviation frontline, helping people get to where they need to be, and moving essential goods to global communities. Protecting our people with vaccinations is important – for them, for our community, for the smooth running of our operations, and also for our customers as it introduces of an additional layer of protection when they travel with us.
“We’ve seen a very positive response with high demand and take-up of the Covid-19 vaccine from our colleagues at the operational frontline, and there’s continued momentum in the rate of vaccinations across the business. We would like to thank the UAE’s leadership for making three types of vaccines available in the country, and for their proactive commitment to championing an extensive National Vaccination Programme.”
“At the outset of the pandemic, Emirates implemented robust safety measures to protect and prioritise the safety of our customers and employees at all stages of the travel journey, and with the rapid progress of our own vaccination programme and high rates of take-up, more of our flights will soon be operating with fully vaccinated frontline employees.
“We are also confident that with more people being vaccinated, combined with strong safety measures in place, we can all look forward to the easing of border entry guidelines for many countries.”
Earlier this month Singapore Airlines began operating selected flights with fully vaccinated crew members.
Singapore Airlines operates flights with fully vaccinated crew
