Covid-19: AirAsia India to complete staff vaccination by mid-October

AirAsia India will fully vaccinate its employees by mid-October, the airline said. IndiGo and Vistara hope to complete their drives by November-end and December-end, respectively.

Airlines in India began vaccinating their staff from May at their own or partner camps. So far AirAsia India has vaccinated 90 per cent of its 3,000-odd workforce with the second dose. “We have been actively conducting vaccination drives and we plan to vaccinate all our eligible Allstars (AirAsia India staff) by mid-October,” the airline spokesperson said.

Currently, the airline operates around 110-120 daily flights which is around  55-60 per cent of its capacity. The civil aviation ministry has allowed airlines to operate upto 85 per cent of their capacity.

Vistara said almost 80 per cent of its 4,000-strong workforce is fully vaccinated. “We are looking at getting everyone fully vaccinated by December-end. This is also in line with our policy of advising employees to receive the second dose latest by January 1, 2022,” a spokesperson said.

Vistara has also released a staff vaccination policy and employees who do not take doses by December-end would need to undergo a RT-PCR test or a rapid antigen test every week in order to come to work.

Globally, airlines have taken varied approaches towards employee vaccination. In August Delta airlines asked staff to pay an extra $200 towards healthcare plan from November in case they chose not to get vaccinated. Last week the airline said its employee vaccination rate increased to 82 per cent after announcing the surcharge.

On the other hand KLM has taken a flexible stance and will not compel its staff to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. Taking a vaccine is a personal choice, it has said.  Australia's Qantas also requires its staff to be fully vaccinated by March 2022 and finalised its policy after an employee survey.

"Getting double vaccinated is important for the safety of all of our staff. Nearly 100 per cent of our 35,000 of  staff (including those from ground handling subsidiary Agile) have received one dose and 55 per cent have got both the doses. Vaccination drive is on in full swing and we expect to fully vaccinate our entire staff by November end," said Raj Raghavan, senior vice president (Human Resources), IndiGo.

Executives from Air India, GoFirst and SpiceJet said most of their staff is vaccinated, but did not share specific details.