Southwest CEO tests positive for Covid after unmasked Senate hearing with other airline chiefs
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly testifies during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., December 15, 2021.
Chip Somodevilla | Pool | Reuters
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly has tested positive for Covid-19, the company said Friday, according to Reuters.
The results came after a Senate hearing in which he and other airline chiefs and lawmakers weren’t wearing masks.
Kelly, along with the CEOs of United Airlines and American Airlines, Delta Air Lines’ chief of operations, and the president of the country’s largest flight attendant union testified for more than three hours at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday afternoon about $54 billion in federal payroll support airlines took to weather the pandemic.
Delta said its chief of operations, John Laughter, who testified in the hearing on Wednesday, tested negative Thursday and Friday.
“He will continue to test and take other precautions as necessary,” the airline said in a statement.
American and United didn’t immediately comment.
Air travel demand collapsed when the pandemic began but has since recovered, mostly thanks to domestic leisure trips. Executives from Delta and United this week said they are gearing up busy year-end holiday season, despite the spread of the omicron variant.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, Delta Air Lines Executive Vice President John Laughter and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International President Sara Nelson testify before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, in Washington, December 15, 2021.
Chip Somodevilla | Pool | Reuters
Senators questioned witnesses on recent flight disruptions, airlines’ hiring trouble, 5G, as well as vaccine mandates.
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