American Airlines Offers COVID-19 Vaccines To All Employees In Tulsa

American Airlines has begun on-site vaccinations for employees at the Tulsa Tech-Ops center, with hopes it will speed vaccination of their employee workforce of just under 5,000 people.

At American Airlines in Tulsa, the work is picking up now that demand for air travel is returning.

"Part of what we're doing here is getting this vaccine out there. The more we can do this, the more we can get back to some sort of normalcy," managing director of the base Ed Sangricco said.

Sangricco said AA employees worked much as normal during the pandemic, except for distancing and masking, though demand for their work was down corresponding with the lack of airline travel. Some of the gap was made up by maintenance needs for grounded airplanes parked in Tulsa, and demand for flights carrying pandemic related cargo.

"We expect to have the entire fleet back in the air before the end of May, which is a wonderful thing, everything is based on demand, as you might expect. I don't think you'll see the parked airplanes in Tulsa for more than another month. They'll be gone and flying again," said Sangricco.

Jerry Snider, a Mechanic Crew Chief with American, said he had COVID-19 at the end of last year, and got the vaccine to protect his family as much as himself.

"I was fortunate when I had it, I didn't have nearly the side effects some people do, so I'm just looking forward getting beyond it," said Snider. "I have family members with certain health issues so to protect them, that's one of my main reasons for getting the vaccination, it wasn't so much for myself."

Sangricco said the fleet of planes parked in Tulsa is diminishing as demand for air travel grows, and with the resolution of the safety issues in the 737-800. Many of the planes were stored in Tulsa while a solution was developed.

"They're not all back in, but they're going back in, it's just how quickly can we get them turned and back in," said Sangricco.

American is vaccinating 200 people per day on-site. Employees can be vaccinated elsewhere at their own discretion, and all who take the vaccination are eligible for an extra day of vacation, according to the airline.