Speaking at an investment event today, Delta CEO Ed Bastian criticized the U.S. government for its ‘inexcusable’ shutdown, which caused significant disruption to the airline industry.
“It’s been very disruptive for the last week — when you go in with no notice and you just arbitrarily reduce the amount of flying in the system for all of us, it’s incredibly disruptive for our customers,” Bastian stated.
“It’s our industry that forces, I guess, even government to get back together and to open up … The good news is that I anticipate we’ll be fully up flying very, very soon in the next day or so.”
Bastian, who has been leading Delta since 2016, stated that people expect more from government leaders, and the company has communicated its concerns to elected officials.
“Do your job, do your job. And I understand there’s disagreements, but it should not come at the cost of asking people to work in particularly in high stress, in incredibly sensitive areas without pay for weeks on end. That’s inexcusable.”
The FAA’s plan resulted in a 4% reduction in flights starting Friday, Nov. 7, increasing to 6% on Tuesday. By Thursday, the decrease was scheduled to reach 8%, and ultimately hit 10% on Nov. 14.
In an interview on Wednesday, Bastian admitted that airlines were a ‘political football’ during the shutdown, “We were used almost like a political hostage to get the government back together. So be it, but the good news is that the outlook is really strong, and the holidays will be a good test of that.”
Delta shares rose nearly 5% in premarket trading following the shutdown’s end.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
