"When this hits one of your own, it sheds a whole new light on the coronavirus..."

American and United Airlines Both Lose Employees to Coronavirus in Same Week (Video)

Both American and United Airlines lost employees this week due to complications from the coronavirus.

American Airlines flight attendants received the news of the death of their colleague — Paul Frishkorn — on Thursday evening in a joint letter from the airline’s senior VP of flight service and presidents of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA).

The 65-year-old Philadelphia-based flight attendant had worked with American Airlines since 1997. He had been twice honored as one of the airline’s Flight Service Champions for excellent customer service. He was also a union representative with the APFA.

“Our hearts go out to Paul’s loved ones, many of whom work for American,” the airline said in a statement to Travel + Leisure. “He will be missed by the customers he cared for and everyone at American who worked with him.”

Amid the ongoing pandemic, American has changed several of its procedures including allowing passengers to spread out throughout the cabin to practice social distancing and cutting food service on flights less than four hours.

A spokesperson for United also confirmed the death of their employee — Carlos Consuegra, a United ramp worker at Newark Liberty Airport — to T+L. Consuegra passed away earlier this week.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of our employees at Newark Liberty International Airport,” a United spokesperson said. “The thoughts of the entire United family are with his loved ones.”

United released a letter to employees, obtained by Live and Let’s Fly, which identified the steps they take when they learn an employee has contracted COVID-19.

Any other employees who may have come in contact with a patient are alerted and if a cabin crew member is determined to have been infected, “the aircraft upon which they worked is taken out of service immediately and undergoes a deep cleaning,” read the letter.

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"When this hits one of your own, it sheds a whole new light on the coronavirus," Lori Bassani, president of the APFA, told USA Today in a statement. "This does spread more fear among our ranks. This is a killer virus, unlike any we have experienced."