Emirates operates flight with fully vaccinated teams at all touchpoints
Emirates this week became the first airline to operate a flight serviced by fully vaccinated frontline teams at every touchpoint of the travel journey, including the airport and onboard experience.
Flight EK215 from Dubai to Los Angeles had vaccinated team members at check-in, security, Business and First Class lounge and boarding gates, as well as vaccinated engineers, pilots and cabin crew.
Emirates' frontline teams are fully vaccinated, including those in the airport experience for Business and First Class lounge
Emirates check-in airport services workers
Also supporting the flight operations were fully vaccinated aircraft appearance, loading and special handling teams from dnata, as well as SkyCargo teams on cargo and logistics requirements.
The Emirates Group rolled out its vaccination drive just more than a month ago, and since then, nearly 26,000 (44 percent), of the Group’s UAE frontline aviation workforce have received both doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinopharm vaccines.
Emirates cabin crew are fully 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," said Adel Al Redha, Chief Operating Officer, Emirates Airline. "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 of an additional layer of protection when they travel with us. 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 Program."
Al Redha continued: “At the outset of the pandemic, Emirates implemented robust safety measures to protect and prioritize the safety of our customers and employees at all stages of the travel journey, and with the rapid progress of our own vaccination program and high rates of take-up, more of our flights will soon be operating with fully vaccinated frontline employees. We are also confident that with more people being vaccinated, combined with strong safety measures in place, we can all look forward to the easing of border entry guidelines for many countries.”
The aircraft appearance team at dnata is fully vaccinated
Nearly 5,000 cabin and flight deck crew have opted to receive both doses of the vaccine. In addition, thousands more Emirates Group employees in other roles have received vaccination through the company’s clinics and vaccination centers, while others have opted to take their vaccine at one of the many vaccination centers across the UAE.
The Emirates Group vaccination program is the latest in its series of safeguards and protections to deliver on its health and safety promises to its customers, employees and the communities it serves around the world. The Group’s vaccination centers have been running 12 hours daily, every day of the week to prioritize and provide aviation frontliners with the vaccine.
UAE ranks second highest for vaccine distribution rate globally
The UAE currently has one of the world’s highest rate of vaccinations for its citizens and residents, with 5.7 million total vaccine doses according to the UAE's Supreme Council for National Security website on February 24. Our World In Data, a research website based at Oxford University, recently reported that the country’s distribution rate stands at 55.27 doses per 100 people, ranking it the second highest in the world.
