Tata Group and Singapore Airlines' joint venture, Vistara, said on Wednesday that it has vaccinated nearly 100% of its eligible employees. According to the company, the airline's airport staff, cabin crew, pilots and corporate staff have received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. "This is the outcome of airport-led vaccination drives across the country and the Vistara-led drive has been carried out in Delhi and the one in Mumbai is currently underway,” the company said.
It further added, "Recognising the crucial role of vaccination in containing the spread of Covid-19, we have taken a multi-pronged approach to facilitate vaccination for our employees.” As per the airline, the vaccination drive went beyond employees. It was extended to family members of employees, off-roll staff like ground handlers, as well as colleagues from Singapore Airlines and other partner airlines.
In addition to vaccines, Vistara said it undertook various employee-centric initiatives to extend support during the pandemic. This included creating a special cross-functional taskforce to help employees with all COVID-related medical assistance for themselves and their families."These initiatives also include paid leaves for recovery from Covid-19 for all affected employees, support with home hospitalisation, availability of critical resources like medicines and oxygen support, Covid-19 testing, doctor consultations for timely medical care and if needed, cabs as a makeshift ambulance for employee or their families,” according to Vistara.
Meanwhile, AirAsia India said it is set to conduct complete bio-safe operations. This, after 96% of its eligible frontline workforce has been inoculated with the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to AirAsia India's MD & CEO Sunil Bhaskaran, the airline's inoculation drive was completed just days ago.
"By the end of May we covered 96% of our workforce, excluding those ineligible for medical reasons, such as those recovering from Covid in the recent past," Bhaskaran told IANS. "With the support of the Tata group-led vaccination drives, we are also providing vaccination support to others in our extended families, including all the dependents of our employees,” he further said.
Besides, he pointed out for a completely safe flying operational environment the airline started with prioritising vaccinations for guest-facing staff including pilots, cabin crew, cecurity, ground staff, and catering operations.