Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday the carrier does not plan to require Covid vaccines for domestic travel.
“It’s very difficult for us to come in and mandate a vaccine that isn’t even federally approved yet, the authorization hasn’t been final yet, so stay tuned,” Bastian said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“We’re continuing to encourage as much as we can amongst our own people and our customers to get vaccinated. The numbers are picking up” on vaccinations, he said.
Increasing numbers of Delta staff and customers have gotten their Covid shots as the delta variant, first discovered in India, became the dominant strain in the U.S., Bastian said, including 73% of the airline’s staff.
The Transportation Security Administration in the spring extended a federal mask mandate for air, train and bus travel to mid-September, a measure that will likely be extended, barring a sharp drop in infection rates.
