Jab-to-fly jet turbulence
It wouldn’t be physically possible to do without enormous delays in the airline system. — American Airlines CEO Doug Parker
Get ready for a snarled mess at airports if airlines are forced to verify that passengers are vaccinated.
The additional check, supported Monday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, would be a “logistical nightmare” for airlines and the TSA, said Conor Cunningham, a senior travel industry analyst at trading firm MKM partners.
“The experience at the airport would go from being really, really awful to even worse,” Cunningham said.
Others predicted lines out the door, delays and cancellations for the airlines already hammered by the pandemic: Big carriers last week said their business could be off by 30 percent by early fall.
Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, first threw his support behind the idea in an interview Friday, while President Biden’s coronavirus response team coordinator Jeff Zients has said he has not “ruled out” vaccine mandates for air travel.
“I would support that if you want to get on a plane and travel with other people that you should be vaccinated,” Fauci said.
Domestic air travelers in France and Canada are already required to show proof of vaccination, and 61 percent of Americans support the idea, according to a September Gallup poll.
Executives for American, Delta and United Airlines recently pushed back.
“It’s very difficult for us to come in and mandate a vaccine that isn’t even federally approved yet,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said on CNBC in August, shortly before the FDA approved the Pfizer COVID vaccine.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told The New York Times in August that a vaccine mandate “wouldn’t be physically possible to do without enormous delays.”
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby punted, telling CNN in August it’s up to the US government to decide whether to require vaccines.
Airlines for America — a lobbying group — opposed requiring vaccines for domestic flights, The New York Times reported in April. Whether that’s changed is unclear.
The impact of a vaccine mandate could vary by airline, Cunningham said.
Carriers like United — with hubs in blue states with higher vaccinations rates like Illinois, California and New Jersey — may have an easier time than rivals like Southwest, concentrated in less-vaccinated Texas. Theo Wayt