The People’s President
By 
The chief executive of Delta Air Lines says the incoming Trump administration will be a “breath of fresh air” for airlines after what he calls government “overreach” under President Joe Biden.
The airline industry has chafed under consumer-protection regulations imposed by the Biden administration. And Delta is facing a federal investigation into its slow recovery from a global technology outage this summer.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian made the comment as he and fellow Delta executives prepared to host Wall Street analysts at an investor day Wednesday in Atlanta.
Bastian noted that President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to reform the federal government and reduce its size.
The airline executive said Trump promised “to take a fresh look at the regulatory environment, the bureaucracy that exists in government, the level of overreach that we have seen over the last four years within our industry. I think that will be a breath of fresh air.”
And what is that breath of fresh air?
Bastian did not specify which Biden regulations he considered overreach, but Delta and other carriers are suing the Transportation Department to kill a rule requiring greater transparency over fees that the carriers charge their passengers.
The group Airlines for America said the rule would confuse consumers by giving them too much information. An appeals court panel blocked enforcement of the rule while the airlines’ lawsuit goes ahead.
Airlines also oppose an inquiry that the administration recently launched into their frequent-flyer programs. Delta has received more than $2.4 billion in revenue from its loyalty program so far this year.
But the hardest blow against Delta could come from a Transportation Department investigation into the airline’s slow recovery from a technology outage in July. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said investigators were focusing on whether Delta’s treatment of passengers affected by canceled and delayed flights violated federal consumer-protection rules.
Wow, America really is going to be great again!