Qantas add 'freedom to spread the virus', page-4

Fake news


The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the aviation industry on a global scale, as we’ve reported, causing massive layoffs and unexpected deaths among employees. The International Air Transport Association categorized last year as “the worst year in history” for air travel demand, with global passenger traffic declining 66% compared with 2019.

In April 2020, British Airways announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs due to the pandemic — totaling more than a quarter of the company’s jobs.

In recent months, British Airways also sufferedthe deaths of four pilots.

The loss of the British pilots — and pilots’ deaths in other countries — sparked a burst of unsubstantiated claims about the cause of their deaths on social media.

“Four British Airway PILOTS have DIED of the COVID VACCINE in the past 7-days,” read a post on Facebook. Another Facebook post repeated a similar false claim about the pilots dying “in the same week, just days after getting [the] second” vaccine dose.

A post on Instagram read, “4 British Airways pilots DEAD. 1 Delta pilot DEAD. Canadian pilot unconscious on runway. All in ONE WEEK. What do they all have in common? [Needle emoji] Safe Travels!”

But it’s not true that all the British pilots died in the same week, and there is no evidence the pilots died after getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

In response to the claims, British Airways tweeted on June 17: “Sadly four members of our pilot community passed away recently. Our thoughts are with their family and friends. However, there is no truth whatsoever in the claims on social media speculating that the four deaths are linked.”

Capt. Nicholas Synnott died in early June following a long battle with COVID-19. Senior First Officer Edward Brice-Bennett was declared dead on June 2, after being found unconscious on a mountain bike trail, according to news reports. Snopesconfirmed the death of Senior First Officer Grant Mercer, who passed away on May 4, and a person with knowledge of the circumstances of his death said it had no connection with the COVID-19 vaccination. The fourth pilot was not identified by the airline or in media reports.

A British Airways spokesperson told Reuters that none of the deaths were linked to vaccines. British Airways hasn’t said if the pilots were vaccinated. We could find no public mention that they received a first or second vaccine dose.

Yet the claim keeps spreading, adding more unfounded details and a baseless claim that five Indian pilots died after receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

“Five vaxxed British Airway pilots just died in a week from heart attacks and internal bleeding. A 6th has severe blood clots that have disqualified him from flying. 5 commercial pilots in India just died after being vaxxed in May,” read an shared on June 22.

As we’ve reported, there is no evidence of an added risk of blood clots for vaccinated air travelers, as suggested in the Instagram post.

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-unsubstantiated-claims-follow-deaths-of-british-and-indian-airline-pilots/
Instagram post