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UPS pilots ask for more precautions to slow COVID cases

Crew member trapped in Hong Kong hospital, union says

A UPS cargo jet at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. UPS says pilot claims about lax COVID safety are without merit. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The union representing 3,000 UPS pilots says the number of members testing positive for COVID has significantly increased and complained the express carrier is not doing enough to protect air crews or bring them home when sick or hospitalized abroad.

More than 100 pilots have contracted COVID since the start of the pandemic and between 30 and 70 are in quarantine at any given time, Brian Gaudet, spokesman for the Independent Pilots Association, told FreightWaves.

IPA President Robert Travis on Thursday asked UPS CEO Carol Tomé to intervene, claiming that health and safety recommendations to lower management have languished.

The union chief suggested that a spike in COVID cases could disrupt UPS’ operations during the peak shipping season.


“These union claims are baseless,” UPS Airlines spokesman Mike Mangeot said.

During a call with analysts Wednesday to discuss UPS’ earnings, Tomé said the carrier is concerned about the recent rise in COVID cases around the world and that any outbreak among pilots would be “a real problem,” adding “we haven’t seen that, but we’re just watching this very, very closely.”

UPS (NYSE: UPS) should greatly expand pilot access to testing — both before and after flight assignments — greatly improve the way it conducts contact tracing and utilize specialized medical evacuation flights, if necessary, to expedite the safe return home of pilots testing positive for COVID abroad, the IPA said in a letter to Tomé.

“UPS pilots spend many hours confined together in small aircraft spaces both as part of the operating crew and as jumpseaters [using auxiliary seats]. In these conditions, social distancing is virtually impossible,” Travis wrote.


“While, at our urging, the company has offered limited testing, what is being offered currently is woefully inadequate, and leaves the pilot group exposed to the rampant transmission of the virus while at work.”

The Atlanta-based parcel carrier is not following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for contact tracing and notifying employees when they’ve had exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID, the IPA also complained. The union, for example, said all pilots in Boeing 757s, which have smaller crew areas than other planes in the fleet, should be quarantined if a crew member becomes infected. 

The problem, according to the union, is highlighted by a case in which UPS didn’t quarantine the entire crew after 12 hours together on the flight deck when a pregnant pilot found out mid flight from Asia as a passenger that she had tested positive. 

“The widespread perception among UPS pilots is that the company’s contact tracing efforts are flawed, inconsistent, and more geared to keeping flights moving rather than basing quarantine decisions on objective medical standards. At a minimum, the company’s actions in this regard lack transparency, and therefore generate no confidence among pilots that UPS is acting in the best interest of their health and safety,” Travis said.

The IPA in March agreed with UPS on a two-year extension of their labor contract. Whether there are underlying decisions the union is trying to influence beyond health issues is unclear in the absence of a contract dispute.

Travis acknowledged that UPS has been able to repatriate sick crew members in many cases, but said it needs to use its clout to secure the release of an asymptomatic pilot who tested positive and is now hospitalized in Hong Kong against his will. The pilot is sharing a small room with a very sick COVID patient who is being placed on a ventilator, according to the IPA.

In March, UPS agreed to let pilots opt in for assignments to China when some balked at potentially being subjected to aggressive testing and quarantine measures there. A similar request for Hong Kong flights was denied, Gaudet said. FedEx pilots also complained at the time about conditions in Hong Kong after three pilots were forced to quarantine in the same room with multiple patients.

“As part of UPS’s culture of safety, we have gone to tremendous lengths to keep our pilots safe during the coronavirus pandemic. We have equipped crewmembers with face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and thermometers, educated them on social distancing on health protocols in areas where they fly, and enhanced cleaning protocols for our buildings, vehicles and aircraft,” Mangeot said.


“We have allowed our pilots to request alternate flight schedules, provided them with free, rapid COVID-19 testing, and worked with government entities to ensure our crews’ safe and healthy transit through nations around the world.

“As essential workers, our pilots have been heroes during the pandemic, operating flights that are saving lives and livelihoods all over the planet. We are proud of their efforts, and we remain confident they will continue flying a safe, reliable and on-time network in this era of need,” he added.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

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2 Comments

  1. Stephen Webster

    In Ontario Canada a number of aircrews have help spread coronavirus. More needs to be done to isolate aircrews and other cross border transportation workers between trips. The private sector airlines and bus, trucking companies need to be doing a lot more to provide hotel rooms between trips and provide better medical care when needed. Private insurance companies are a total disaster in providing care to sick transportation workers in Canada and many other countries.

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Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, he was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. Eric is based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached for comments and tips at [email protected]