Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian today said he believes the airline industry will emerge with a greater sense of purpose because of the pandemic.
"It's been rough, and it doesn't matter what industry. Our collective industry (travel) was probably one of the hardest hit of any industry. And I think we're going to come out of it better for having gone through it," Bastian said. "It's gotten us focused on the future and the changes we have implemented. People have found a much greater sense of purpose as to why they travel."
The CEO made his remarks at the U.S. Travel Association's one-day "The Future of Travel Mobility" conference on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Bastian's address was billed as a 'Fireside Chat: From Curbside to Cruising Altitude' and was moderated by U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow.
Bastian's optimism for the future of the industry was buoyed by business travel.
"Business travel is coming back a lot faster. You can almost mark it to when the White House announced the lifting of international restrictions," he said. "That really was what jumpstarted a lot of business travel, not just for international but for domestic. At Delta we have 50 percent of our domestic business volume back, and that number was in the 30s in August. So we've seen a big pick-up. Every large company we know is telling us we're coming back. At some point next year we'll know. I think it will recover, but it will be different. The travel outlook for the next few years, including business, is going to be bullish."
It was an engaging hour-long conversation, with Bastian touching on a variety of topics in response - to Dow's questions.
- On complying with the government mandate that all federal contractors be vaccinated: "We all face the same challenge as government contractors. It's become unfortunately overly politicized. ... We had a plan well before the president came out with his plan. Our plan was if you're not vaccinated there's going to be a penalty. There's going to be a surcharge, $200 on your insurance. We had gotten as far as we could with the carrot (incentives). We're now over 90 percent vaccinated. I do expect to see another big jump when people see the deduction in their payroll starting next week. The goal is to get people vaccinated, not whether we can enforce it."
- On flying during the pandemic: "The safest place you can be is on an airplane, safer than this room I'd argue. The filtration systems, the HEPA filters, it's the same as in a hospital. The Delta Care standard wasn't just 'get through the pandemic.' But the masking, that's probably going to stay around for some time."
- On diversity: "The pandemic exposed a lot of vulnerabilities in society. ... It has gotten America's attention. This is not something our government can lead us through. This is something business is going to have to take the lead on. ... You have to make it personal. There has to be an accountability somewhere. We've all talked about diversity and inclusion for many many years, and many times it was just a checkbox - do you have diversity and inclusion? We've made it public. ... I sum it as, I look at myself as the leader of 75,000 people throughout the company. Our people are our most important asset. We look at our company as a family, and I am the leader of the family and I have to give each and every one of them an opportunity."
- On onboard entertainment: "We found that it cost about $1 million to put seatbacks on planes, so at Delta we did it ourselves. We're in the process of improving our entertainment and that includes Wi-Fi. Hopefully we'll get (WiFi) to be free in the not-so-distant future. We're not there yet but that's the long-term vision."
- On the future of travel: "The world has changed; the need to be together hasn't changed."
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