United Airlines Chief Executive Officers Scott Kirby told CNBC on Wednesday that he does not expect the airline’s vaccine mandate to have a negative impact on the company’s operations. After deciding to make vaccinations compulsory for all of its employees, United Airlines threatened to fire 593 employees, all of whom have thus far failed to comply with the company’s vaccination policy.
With a workforce consisting of over 67,000 employees across the United States, United Airlines revealed that approximately 3% of its employees have submitted requests for vaccine exemptions on the grounds of medical or religious reasons.
The Chicago, Illinois-based carrier earlier decided that those employees who seek a vaccine exemption on religious grounds would be put on temporary, unpaid personal leave starting October 2nd. This plan has been placed on temporary hold, however, as a lawsuit challenging this policy currently gets underway.
According to Kirby, the outcome of the lawsuit and subsequent actions with regard to the policy will have a minimal impact on company operations, especially since the vaccine exemption issue involves such a small portion of the workforce.
“We have planned and prepared for this that we are now able to confidently run a strong operation,” Kirby confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday.
