Frontier Airlines To Also Mandate Employee COVID Vaccinations

Frontier Airlines says it will join United Airlines and mandate that all U.S. employees receive the COVID-19 vaccination, according to the aviation blog The Points Guy.

Unlike United, however, Frontier has no plans to terminate the employment of workers who refuse to get the vaccine.

Instead, the airline says employees who do not comply with the vaccine mandate, either because they’ve chosen not to or are unable to, will be subjected to COVID-19 testing on a “regular basis.”

United CEO Scott Kirby and President Brett Hart said Friday the airline would require each of the company’s 67,000 U.S. workers to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 25 or face possible loss of employment.

For Frontier, president and CEO Barry Biffle said it represented the next logical step for the airline.

“As we continue to watch the rapid increase of new COVID-19 cases across the United States caused by the Delta variant, I am concerned for the well-being of our team members, their families and friends,” he told The Points Guy. “Safety is of the utmost importance at Frontier and we need to take every step possible for us to keep our teams safe, protect the operation and protect our passengers. The time has come to do what we can to help put an end to COVID-19.”

Biffle said he feels like Frontier is already ahead of the curve.

“The good news is that the vast majority of our employees have already taken this important step and have gotten vaccinated,” he said. “(The mandate) will further increase the percentage of [Frontier’s] workforce that’s fully vaccinated.”