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Delta Air Lines to impose $200 monthly levy on unvaccinated staff

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The airline’s chief, Ed Bastian, said the additional cost was necessary to insure against the financial risks of being responsible for unvaccinated staff (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Delta Air Lines will charge employees an extra $200 a month for their corporate healthcare plan if they refuse to take a Covid vaccine, it announced today.

The airline’s chief, Ed Bastian, said the additional cost was necessary to insure against the financial risks of being responsible for unvaccinated staff.

Bastian pointed to the $50,000 per person cost to the company for an average stay in hospital due to Covid.

Any US employee who has not been fully vaccinated will need to take a Covid test each week starting on 12 September, Delta said. Three in four Delta staff are currently fully vaccinated.

“While we can be proud of our 75% vaccination rate, the aggressiveness of the variant means we need to get many more of our people vaccinated, and as close to 100% as possible,” Bastian said in a memo distributed to staff.

Rival US Airlines has also mandated US employees to be vaccinated, while Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs announced today anyone entering its American offices will need to be vaccinated.