U.S. airlines – Dispatches From The Front

And then there were six. Last week, three major U.S. airlines said they would require employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways are joining United, Hawaiian and Frontier airlines in announcing vaccine mandates for staff.

Among the major U.S. air carriers, the two holdouts — Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines — are getting pushback from unions as they mull taking similar action.

But airlines have little choice. Last month, as part of a new approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the Biden administration ratcheted up pressure by ordering the nation’s largest employers to impose vaccine mandates. As large employers with more than 100 workers, airlines must require their workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or test their employees for the virus at least once a week. Airlines that provide services for the government as contractors have an even stricter set of rules. They must enforce the vaccine mandate by December 8 without offering a testing option.

The biggest U.S. airlines finally are getting serious about reversing the steady decline in recent years of the average price of their fares, but the smart folks at American Express Global Business Travel – part of the world’s largest travel services company – say that’s not enough to keep fare prices from falling again in 2017.

AmEx, the parent of the world’s largest travel agency and a major player in corporate travel cost management through its American Express charge card business, said Wednesday that it expects the kind of fares purchased by business travelers for short haul travel with North America to decline, on average, by 2.5% to 5.5% next year. Average long haul fares for travel both within North America and to/from North America should fall between 0.2% and 4.6%, according to AmEx’s annual Global Travel Forecast, released Wednesday.

Tag: U.S. airlines

All But 2 Major U.S. Airlines Have Announced Vaccine Mandates | Forbes

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