Emirates operates first flight with Covid vaccinated crew

Honouring its commitment to the health and safety of its employees and customers, Emirates has become among the first airlines in the world to operate a flight with fully vaccinated frontline teams servicing customers at every touchpoint of the travel journey.

The flight, EK215, which departed Dubai for Los Angeles, was safely supported by check-in, security, business and first class lounge and boarding gate employees, as well as engineers, pilots and cabin crew who made the choice to be fully vaccinated, the UAE-based airline said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Also supporting the flight’s operations were fully vaccinated aircraft appearance, loading and special handling teams from dnata, as well as SkyCargo teams working on the cargo and logistics requirements for EK215,” the statement added.

The Emirates Group rolled out its vaccination drive at pace just over a month ago, and since then, close to 26,000, or 44%, of the group’s UAE frontline aviation workforce have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinopharm vaccines.

“Our operational workforce is at the aviation frontline, helping people get to where they need to be, and moving essential goods to global communities,” Emirates Airline’s Chief Operating Officer Adel Al Redha said.

“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,” he added.