Federal vaccine mandate to ‘strengthen’ Raytheon Technologies’ recovery, CEO says

As Collins Aerospace, Cedar Rapids’ largest employer, relies on the commercial aviation industry’s continued recovery, its parent Raytheon Technologies expressed optimism about the federal vaccine mandate President Joe Biden announced last week.

“I think the president’s mandate last week in terms of vaccines was only going to strengthen the outlook as we go into the fourth quarter,” said Greg Hayes, Raytheon CEO, during a presentation Wednesday at Morgan Stanley’s virtual Laguna Conference.

The mandate requires all employees at businesses with more than 100 workers either to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 weekly and is expected to affect as many as 100 million Americans.

Raytheon Technologies will require all U.S. employees to be vaccinated to “further protect employees and communities from the risks and uncertainty of COVID-19 and its varients,” the company said in a statement.

The push for vaccinations comes as concerns emerge about the impact of the COVID-19 delta variant on an aerospace industry already hit hard by the pandemic.

Airlines have indicated “some softness here in forward bookings,” Hayes said, following the rise of the delta variant.

“Planes remain relatively full for the domestic routes, perhaps not as full as they might have been absent the delta variant,” Hayes said. “We’ll see if there’s any big, big change, but so far things remain on track.”

Raytheon plans to reduce its office space from 32 million square feet to 24 million square feet, Hayes said, as part of the company’s effort to establish “the office of the future.”

Also in his Wednesday comments, Hayes also reiterated Raytheon’s previously announced goal to cut costs by $1.5 billion following the merger of Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp., which created Raytheon Technologies.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com