United Promises to Leave No Covid-Infected Pilot Behind
Skift Take
Ordinarily, an airline might refuse to transport a passenger with Covid-19. But airlines know they need to repatriate crew members who develop Covid-19 abroad. If they do not, crew members might refuse to fly the trips, and airlines would lose revenue.
United Airlines has developed a comprehensive plan to "extract" sick, or possibly sick, pilots from foreign countries using airplanes without passengers, so pilots need not quarantine or receive treatment abroad unless absolutely necessary, according to an internal United employee memo on December 14 seen by Skift.
The memo was titled "International extraction procedure – COVID affected crew member."
As a giant pandemic rages, repatriation of crew members is a thorny issue at many passenger and cargo airlines. Pilots and flight attendants fear they might get stuck in a foreign country, at a subpar hotel, or worse, at a hospital or detention center. Pilot unions worry a crew member may test negative for Covid-19 before departure and then positive shortly after landing abroad.
The Air Lines Pilots Association, which represents pilots at United, Delta Air Lines and Federal Express, among others, did not comment for this story, but it has been vocal about this danger. In July, the union said, three Federal Express pilots were "forced into mandated hospital facilities," in Hong Kong after testing positive for the virus, while "several" others "were put into government camps under extremely difficult conditions."
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