Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the Trump administration's regulatory approach might be “a breath of fresh air.”
Speaking to reporters ahead of Delta Investor Day, Bastian noted that President-elect Donald Trump campaigned by saying he would take a “fresh look” at regulation and bureaucracy.
The U.S. Department of Transportation under Secretary Pete Buttigieg has issued a series of rules to guard consumers, a few of which the airline industry has resisted, including a rule this yr that required airlines to robotically refund travelers money when an airline canceled a flight.
Bastian said the industry had experienced a “level of overwhelm” during the last 4 years.
The department can also be investigating airlines' lucrative loyalty programs, which make airlines billions of dollars and help them stay afloat. Current DOT leadership is looking for information on how airlines can unilaterally change the worth of frequent flyer points. The DOT has an ongoing investigation into Delta's handling of the July planes CrowdStrike The outage resulted within the airline canceling 1000’s of flights and finding it difficult to get well in comparison with competitors.
Delta said Wednesday that it expects rising sales and profits in the approaching months and years, citing robust consumer demand and powerful growth in personal wealth because the pandemic.
Trump hired the previous US congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy as his selection to steer the department. Duffy didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Other U.S. airline CEOs expressed enthusiasm for the brand new Trump administration and called on latest officials to make sure the industry has enough resources to enhance 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 last week on the Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas. He said there may be more work ahead to approve more visas for people to go to the United States
In an interview last week, Sun Country Airlines CEO Jude Bricker said, “We just need stability and resources at the DOT.”
Industry representatives and analysts also expect the brand new government to be more open to mergers and consolidations.
Alaska Airlines took over Hawaiian Airlines this yr without opposition from President Joe Biden's administration. However, Biden's Justice Department won court challenges to dam two airline deals: a planned acquisition of Spirit Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday JetBlue Airways and a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines within the Northeast, which was approved in the ultimate days of the primary Trump administration.
“Maybe this administration would take a different stance,” said Bricker of Sun Country. “There certainly can’t be anything more against it.”
The current Transportation Department didn’t immediately comment.
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