Emirates first flight with fully vaccinated crew takes off
- On Monday the fight departed from Dubai to Los Angeles with a fully vaccinated crew.
- To date, 26 000 employees have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinopharm vaccines.
- The airline group has vaccination centres that have been running 12 hours a day, every day of the week.
On Monday Emirates became one of the first airline companies to operate a flight with a fully vaccinated crew.
Flight EK215 departed Dubai headed for Los Angeles on Monday morning with a crew that had opted to receive the vaccine. The airline said that everyone from check-in staff, security, and engineers had been vaccinated.
"Our operational workforce are at the aviation frontline, helping people get to where they need to be, and moving essential goods to global communities. Protecting our people with vaccinations is important - for them, for our community, for the smooth running of our operations, and also for our customers as it introduces an additional layer of protection when they travel with us," said Emirates Chief Operating Officer, Adel Al Redha.
Since starting a vaccination drive over a month ago, the airline has vaccinated close to 26 000, or 44%, of the Group's UAE frontline aviation workforce. The employees have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinopharm vaccines.
"We've seen a very positive response with high demand and take-up of the Covid-19 vaccine from our colleagues at the operational frontline, and there's continued momentum in the rate of vaccinations across the business. We would like to thank the UAE's leadership for making three types of vaccines available in the country, and for their proactive commitment to championing an extensive National Vaccination Programme," said Al Redha.
The Group's vaccination centres have been running 12 hours a day, every day of the week, and nearly 5 000 Cabin and Flight Deck Crew have opted to receive both doses of the vaccine.