United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said his controversial decision to mandate employee vaccines - under threat of termination or furlough - was "the right decision."
"When I retire someday, hopefully long in the future, I will look back at this and it will be one of the proudest moments of my career that we've made the tough decision, but the right decision to require vaccines," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.
United has been successful with about a 99 percent vaccine rate. Around 300 of the airline's 67,000 U.S.-based workers are yet to comply with the strict policy, after an initial deadline of September 27.
Vaccine hesitancy has been a hugely divisive issue in the U.S. but President Biden recently made it easier for big companies to take a tougher line.
Now the President is asking for all airlines to issue an employee vaccine mandate - with the possibility of also issuing a mandate for all passengers who fly to be vaccinated.
For now, Kirby says United's strict policy is "about saving lives".
Some 2,000 employees have requested an exemption on medical or religious grounds. They haven't all been granted, but final numbers won't be clear until legal processes are resolved.
Any dismissal process could take weeks or months as the company says it would follow agreements with trade unions.
"Despite all the rhetoric and all the challenges that business leaders may think they're going to have with the vaccine requirement, we did it," he said. "t was seven weeks from the time we announced it until we finished and we got to 99 percent."
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