American Airlines subsidiary Piedmont Airlines discouraged pilots from obtaining COVID vaccines last weekend “due to high demand” to fly, according to a memo obtained by CBS News.
In the memo sent last Wednesday, Piedmont Airlines chief pilot John Pursell told the 500 pilots of the regional carrier: “Piedmont will not be able to release any additional pilots for COVID vaccinations on the weekend of March 19-21. due to high demand. “
Travel demand increased throughout March, reaching a pandemic peak of more than 1.5 million passenger screens at TSA control points on Sunday.
Pursell told pilots that they would need to “try to schedule at the end of the month” so that the airline could maintain “operational reliability”.
Piedmont is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines based in Charlotte, North Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The regional carrier operates 50-seat Embraer E-145 aircraft.
An airline source told CBS News that several pilots were denied time off to get a COVID vaccine last weekend due to a lack of enough reserve pilots to cover their shifts. The source added that, although employees are happy that the airline is busy again, “pilots need to be allowed to be protected … without retribution.”
The FAA does not allow pilots to fly for 48 hours after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, a regulation that could undermine the airline’s ability to keep up with the increasing travel demand that made it “operate close to the capacity of aircraft and crews. available, “according to the memo.
“We fully recognize the desire to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” said another memo entitled “Vaccination Policy COVID-19” sent to all pilots in Piedmont on March 11 and obtained by CBS News. “While we encourage all pilots to get vaccinated, the requirement to wait 48 hours before returning to the flight is causing serious concerns about crew coverage.”
The memo says the airline will provide “maximum scheduling flexibility”, but told pilots that “they should make every effort to schedule their single-dose vaccine or the first dose of a two-dose vaccine during their free time and when the 48 hour posting period will not interfere with your flight schedules. “
Vaccine appointments in many states remain in short supply.
The airline said that last weekend Charlotte airport hosted a vaccination clinic for airport employees, including those working for Piedmont. The airline has a crew base at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and says it has granted permission to as many pilots as it could without canceling flights, notifying the e-mail of March 17.
“Piedmont is strongly encouraging all of our team members to get vaccinated and offering an incentive to do so,” said Piedmont’s director of corporate communications, Crystal Byrd, in a statement. “Due to our pilots ‘FAA requirements to stay out of work after the vaccine, we are doing our best to offer flexibility while meeting our customers’ needs.”
Byrd said the pilots are “encouraged to work with their leadership team to ensure the necessary time off to receive the vaccine”.
The airline believes that a similar situation is unlikely to occur again involving a major vaccination event at a central airport on a busy travel weekend.