Delta CEO says Trump administration's approach to regulation could be ‘breath of fresh air'

• Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the last four years were marked by governmental "overreach."
• The Buttigieg-led DOT has added new rules aimed at protecting consumers, and Delta is under investigation for its handling of the CrowdStrike outage this summer that stranded thousands of customers.
• Airline CEOs have urged the incoming administration to invest in modernizing air traffic control.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the Trump administration's approach to regulation could be a "breath of fresh air."

Speaking 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 host of rules aimed at protecting consumers, some of which the airline industry has bristled at, including one this year that requires carriers to provide automatic cash refunds to travelers when an airline cancels a flight.

Bastian said the industry has seen a "level of overreach" over the past four years.

The department is also looking into airlines' lucrative loyalty programs, which bring in billions of dollars for carriers, helping to keep them afloat. The current DOT leadership is seeking information about how airlines can unilaterally change the value of frequent flyer points. The DOT has an open investigation into Delta's handling of July's CrowdStrike outage, during which the carrier canceled thousands of flights and struggled to recover 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 because it was "bombarded" with traveler complaints during the mass cancellations.

"If I was an airline CEO, which a quick examination of my personal finances would validate this not the case, I would spend more energy on taking care of passengers and direct less energy at my regulator," Buttigieg said.

Delta on Wednesday said it expects to grow sales and profits in the months and years ahead, pointing to resilient consumer demand and sharp growth in household wealth since the pandemic.

Trump tapped former U.S. congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy as his pick to lead the department. Duffy didn't immediately respond 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 new Trump administration and urged incoming officials to make sure the industry has enough resources to improve air traffic control, which falls under the Federal Aviation Administration, and other key pieces of infrastructure.

"We have to invest in this industry," American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said at the Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas last week. He said there is 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 at 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 year. However, Biden's Justice Department won court challenges to block 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 in the Northeast, which had been approved in the last days of the first Trump administration.

"Perhaps this administration would have a different stance," said Sun Country's Bricker. "It certainly can't get more against it."

The current Department of Transportation didn't immediately comment.