Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told CNBC on Tuesday he believes businesses should not impose Covid vaccine mandates on their employees.
However, he said his Dallas-based carrier was doing so to comply with federal rules put in place by the Biden administration.
“I’ve never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate. I’m not in favor that. Never have been,” Kelly said in an interview on “Squawk on the Street.” “But the executive order from President Biden mandates that all federal employees and then all federal contractors, which covers all the major airlines, have to have a [vaccine] mandate … in place by December the 8th, so we’re working through that.”
Southwest said last week its 56,000-person workforce needed to be vaccinated against Covid by Dec. 8 in order to keep working at the airline. Southwest’s announcement came a few days after other carriers — including American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways — informed employees about the need to adhere to federal vaccine rules.
In August, before the Biden administration’s action, United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines instituted Covid vaccine requirements for their staffs.
Southwest started to offer incentives such as extra pay to spur uptake of the coronavirus vaccine in mid-September, following in the footsteps of other carriers like Delta Air Lines, American and United. Delta later said that starting Nov. 1, unvaccinated workers would have to pay an extra $200 per month for company health insurance.
Kelly noted Southwest’s efforts to encourage employees to receive a Covid shot, adding that individuals also are able to apply for religious and medical exemptions.
“My goal, obviously, is that no one loses their job. The objective here, obviously, is to improve health and safety, not for people to lose their jobs,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s comments Tuesday come as Southwest faces heat for widespread flight cancellations in recent days and Monday’s sharp decline in the company’s stock price.
There were signs that Southwest’s operations were improving Tuesday, as 87 flights, or just 2% of its schedule, were canceled. Its shares were up about 1%.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday about 2,200 flights were scrapped, with more than half that number on Sunday alone.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
