Ed Bastian's 'Breath of Fresh Air'

Delta's CEO said he had high hopes for how this administration would treat airlines. On a regulatory basis he was right. But what about fuel?

Dear readers,

I’m occasionally amused by what I believe is the cognitive dissonance among U.S. airline CEOs¹ who praise the president for making minor changes to airline regulations, while they ignore a much bigger problem: U.S. government policy in Iran is taking a big bite out of airline profits and making it nearly impossible for them to provide guidance for investors.

Today’s target is Delta CEO Ed Bastian. I don’t know his politics, but I do know that in late 2024, he suggested the incoming Trump Administration might be a "breath of fresh air." According to the Associated Press, Bastian said he expected Trump “to take a fresh look at the regulatory environment, the bureaucracy that exists in government, [and] the level of overreach that we have seen over the last four years within our industry.”

The Trump Administration has done that. But Delta told investors Wednesday that it expects to pay $4.30 per gallon for jet fuel (including benefits from its refinery) in the second quarter, roughly double its outlay from a year earlier. The airline pegged the increased fuel cost (just for the second quarter) at more than $2 billion — far more than the the costs from any new passenger protections.