Rex Airlines announces compulsory Covid-19 vaccination for frontline staff

Australia’s largest regional airline has announced Covid-19 vaccines will be mandatory for all of its frontline staff.

Rex Airlines on Monday announced that all frontline, customer-facing employees would need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by November 1.

“We have a duty of care to both our passengers and staff to provide the safest possible environment,” Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said.

“As we provide an essential service operating to regional centres and remote communities throughout Australia, it is incumbent upon us to do whatever we can to help those residents remain safe.”

If Rex reaches its November 1 fully-vaccinated goal, the company will become the first airline in Australia to reach that target.

Qantas and Virgin have both set a deadline of November 15 for full mandatory vaccination of their frontline workforce.

Mr Sharp said an internal staff survey showed that even without the mandatory vaccination requirement, about 90 per cent of the airline’s entire workforce would have already voluntarily been vaccinated by November 1.

“As the survey shows, Rex staff has overwhelmingly embraced this responsibility and has done its part to keep the nation safe,” he said.

The mandatory vaccine requirement includes all Rex employees working at check-in and all pilots and cabin crew across the airline’s networks.

In the meantime, the small number of unvaccinated frontline staff would be offered non customer-facing roles where available, Mr Sharp said.

All unvaccinated office staff will be required to wear a mask while at work.