After what he saw as government overreach under President Joe Biden, the CEO of Delta Air Lines believes the impending Trump administration will be a welcome change for airlines.
The Biden administration’s consumer protection laws have angered the airline sector. Additionally, Delta’s sluggish recovery from a worldwide technological breakdown this summer is the subject of a federal probe.
As he and other Delta executives got ready to welcome Wall Street analysts to an investor day in Atlanta on Wednesday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian made the remark.
Bastian pointed out that Donald Trump, the president-elect, ran on a platform of reforming and shrinking the federal government.
According to the airline CEO, Trump pledged to examine the regulatory landscape, government bureaucracy, and the extent of overreach that has occurred in our sector over the past four years from a new perspective. That will be refreshing, in my opinion.
After making an industry-high $4.6 billion last year, Delta posted a $2.6 billion profit in the first nine months of this year. The corporation is using their investor day to increase support for the business.
The airline maintained its earlier prediction that the fourth-quarter adjusted profit would range from $1.60 to $1.85 per share. According to the corporation, its sales in 2025 would increase by a mid-single-digit percentage compared to 2024. A FactSet study indicates that analysts anticipate a 6% gain.
Consumer advocates are concerned that a second Trump administration would attempt to reverse two regulations: one that forces airlines to disclose the entire cost of tickets up front, including necessary fees and taxes, and another that mandates automatic refunds following canceled flights.
The trade association representing the airline sector commended Trump’s choice of former Wisconsin Representative Sean Duffy as his transportation secretary on Monday. During a conflict with Persian Gulf carriers, Duffy, a former reality TV star and co-host of Fox Business’s The Bottom Line, advocated for American airlines and their unions.
Delta and other carriers are suing the Transportation Department to repeal a rule that requires greater transparency over the costs that the carriers charge their passengers, though Bastian did not name which Biden policies he believed went too far.
Airlines for America claimed that the rule will provide too much information to consumers, confusing them. The rule’s enforcement was stopped by an appeals court panel while the airline’s lawsuit proceeded.
Additionally, airlines are against a new administration investigation of their frequent flyer programs. Through its loyalty program, Delta has already made almost $2.4 billion this year.
However, a Transportation Department investigation investigating Delta’s sluggish recovery from a July technological breakdown may deal the airline the biggest hit. Investigators were concentrating on whether Delta’s handling of passengers impacted by canceled and delayed flights breached federal consumer protection regulations, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigiegs.
Following a Transportation Department inquiry into a comparable but more significant service outage in December 2022, Southwest Airlines agreed a settlement of $140 million.
At first, Delta claimed to be assisting with the inquiry. In October, Delta filed a lawsuit against CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company whose malfunctioning Microsoft computer upgrade caused the downtime.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
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