Status: 08/25/2021 3:07 p.m.
Lufthansa only wants to use those who are fully vaccinated for flying personnel. Instead of compulsory vaccinations as with the Swiss subsidiary Swiss, the airline relies on company agreements.
A corona vaccination is to be made a requirement for Lufthansa staff to be able to work in the air in the future. A company spokeswoman in Frankfurt said that they are working on appropriate agreements with the staff representatives. A comparable agreement already exists for yellow fever vaccination. Negotiations with the staff councils had to be made first the portal “Aerotelegraph” reports.
It was only on Tuesday that the Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss announced that its crews would be required to have a corona vaccination. From November 15th, crew members must be fully vaccinated according to the “Covid-19 mandatory vaccination”.
No legal basis for compulsory vaccination in Germany
According to Lufthansa, there is simply no legal basis for such a mandatory vaccination in Germany. “In Germany there can only be a compulsory vaccination through the legislature,” said a company spokesman.
But regardless of the legal basis – mandatory vaccination or company agreement – the result for flight personnel is the same: If you haven’t been vaccinated, Lufthansa will no longer be used in the air in the future.
No vaccination is planned for passengers
In principle, international flight operations without a mandatory corona vaccination for aircraft crews will not be feasible in the future, said the Lufthansa spokeswoman. The background to this is the worldwide country-specific entry regulations, which increasingly require a vaccination for crews as well. Hong Kong, for example, will require proof of vaccination from September.
A survey of the proportion of crews who have already been vaccinated has not yet been carried out at Lufthansa, according to the state-supported company. It is about sensitive data. The MDAX group emphasizes that it does not intend to introduce a mandatory vaccination certificate for flight passengers. Vaccination should also not be prescribed for non-flying personnel.
Vaccination is also compulsory at Qantas
Most recently, the Australian airline Qantas announced that its employees would have to be vaccinated against corona. Not only for pilots and flight attendants, but also for the ground crew there is a deadline of November 15; the remaining employees will have time until the end of March 2022. There will be exceptions for people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, according to the company.