A Delta Airways passenger jet approaches to land at LAX through the outbreak of the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 7, 2021.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Delta Air Lines this month ended its $200 month-to-month surcharge on unvaccinated workers’ firm medical health insurance, ending a pandemic coverage designed to encourage employees to get inoculated towards Covid-19.
CEO Ed Bastian introduced the coverage shift on a Wednesday name discussing the airline’s first-quarter results and outlook.
“We have dropped as of this month the extra insurance coverage surcharge given the truth that we actually do imagine that the pandemic has moved to a seasonal virus,” Bastian mentioned. “Any workers that have not been vaccinated is not going to be paying further insurance coverage prices going ahead.”
Delta announced the policy final August to take impact November 2021. On the time, Bastian mentioned the typical hospital keep for an worker with Covid-19 value Delta $50,000.
Greater than 95% of Delta’s 75,000-plus workers have been vaccinated, in line with the corporate. It additionally started requiring all new hires to point out proof of vaccination.
United Airlines had the strictest vaccination coverage of any U.S. airline, requiring employees to be vaccinated or face termination with out an exemption for spiritual or medical causes. Workers with an lodging can be moved off buyer service-facing roles, United mentioned.
Greater than 96% of that airline’s roughly 67,000 U.S. workers had been vaccinated.
Final month, United mentioned it might enable unvaccinated staff who obtained an exemption to return to their regular jobs, citing a drop in Covid circumstances.
