Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the Trump administration’s approach to regulation may very well be a “breath of fresh air.”
Talking to reporters ahead of Delta’s investor day, Bastian noted that President-elect Donald Trump campaigned saying he would take a “fresh look” at regulation and bureaucracy.
The U.S. Department of Transportation under Secretary Pete Buttigieg has issued a number of rules geared toward protecting consumers, a few of which the airline industry has bristled at, including one this 12 months that requires carriers to supply automatic money refunds to travelers when an airline cancels a flight.
Bastian said the industry has seen a “level of overreach” over the past 4 years.
The department can be looking into airlines’ lucrative loyalty programs, which herald billions of dollars for carriers, helping to maintain them afloat. The present DOT leadership is in search of details about how airlines can unilaterally change the worth of frequent flyer points. The DOT has an open investigation into Delta’s handling of July’s CrowdStrike outage, during which the carrier canceled hundreds of flights and struggled to recuperate compared with competitors.
When asked about Bastian’s comments at a pre-Thanksgiving press conference on Thursday, outgoing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg fired back, saying the agency began the Delta investigation since it was “bombarded” with traveler complaints throughout the mass cancellations.
“If I used to be an airline CEO, which a fast examination of my personal funds would validate this not the case, I’d spend more energy on caring for passengers and direct less energy at my regulator,” Buttigieg said.
Delta on Wednesday said it expects to grow sales and profits within the months and years ahead, pointing to resilient consumer demand and sharp growth in household wealth because the pandemic.
Trump tapped former U.S. congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy as his pick to steer the department. Duffy didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Buttigieg declined to comment on what he thought the incoming administration will do but said air traveler consumer protections are broadly popular.
Other U.S. airline CEOs have expressed enthusiasm for the brand new Trump administration and urged incoming officials to ensure the industry has enough resources to enhance air traffic control, which falls under the Federal Aviation Administration, and other key pieces of infrastructure.
“We now have to speculate on this industry,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said on the Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas last week. He said there may be more work ahead to approve more visas so people can visit the U.S.
In an interview last week, Sun Country Airlines CEO Jude Bricker said, “We just need stability and resources on the DOT.”
Industry members and analysts also expect the incoming administration to be more open to mergers and consolidation.
Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines without pushback from President Joe Biden’s administration this 12 months. Nonetheless, Biden’s Justice Department won court challenges to dam two airline deals: a proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, by JetBlue Airways and a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines within the Northeast, which had been approved within the last days of the primary Trump administration.
“Perhaps this administration would have a unique stance,” said Sun Country’s Bricker. “It definitely cannot get more against it.”
The present Department of Transportation didn’t immediately comment.
