A CEO Q&A with Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines

What is one of the most important decisions you have made for your customers this year?

Prioritizing the health and safety of our people and our customers is hands down the most important decision we’ve made at Delta this year. This includes blocking middle seats, capping seating at 60 percent, requiring face coverings and doing everything we can to make people feel safe during their travel. These were not always easy decisions, but our values call on us to do what’s right and care for our Delta family. And I believe it’s because of these critical actions that we’re able to keep climbing towards a prosperous future.

What is one new initiative or commitment your company has launched during the past year that you are particularly proud of?

Earlier this year, we committed to investing $1 billion over the next 10 years to neutralize our carbon emissions and ensure we have a sustainable footprint as we grow into the future. While the pandemic has certainly reshaped the financial landscape, we’re not going to back down from that commitment. We must have a sustainable environmental platform on which we operate if we want a prosperous future. We will maintain this commitment on an ongoing basis — we have an obligation to future generations to connect people across the world in a sustainable way.

What changes is your company making to become more inclusive of people of color?

This year we’ve seen an extraordinary convergence of crises, with the scourge of racial injustice exacerbated by the global pandemic. The tragic series of events, including the killing of George Floyd and the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, among countless others, exposed a deep vulnerability of our society that has been pervasive for centuries and accelerated our actions to stand up as an anti-racist organization.

You often can’t solve for what you don’t understand — so we’ve emphasized creating understanding and education around systemic racism within our workforce. We’ve hosted employee Town Halls about racial injustice to have a forum for open dialogue, and even had the honor of having Bryan Stevenson join us at Delta recently. We’ve also brought in experts to speak with our people about Black Mental Health and offer resources for navigating an inequitable system.

We know simply caring is not enough — we must continue to turn this into action, which starts at the top with me. One of the unique ways that Delta elevates the voices of people of color is through our relationship with Delta’s Black employee Business Resource Group, BOLD. I’ve stayed closely connected with this community to listen and incorporate their perspectives to help lead our business to be more inclusive and representative. They have joined us for Black Lives Matter flag raisings at our Minneapolis campus and Atlanta Headquarters. We’ve lobbied for Georgia Hate Crimes Legislation, which was successfully signed into law in our home state following thousands of letters from Delta people calling on lawmakers to take action. We’ve also endorsed policing reforms in Minneapolis.

There are many actions we’re able to take in the near team, and we are ensuring that our long-term strategy will support sustained progress. That includes strengthening our pipeline to have stronger diversity and representation in our employee base, especially on the leadership level. And I personally am working on creating more diversity within our Board of Directors.

You’ll see us take more steps toward removing bias from our hiring processes, generating wealth for the Black community by partnering with diverse business owners, supporting community organizations that are solving for inequity and endorsing legislation that advocates for justice. While we’ve had many of these goals and strategies in place for some time, the global environment has certainly accelerated our path and action plans to get there.

Racial equality is core to who we are and core to our business principle. As a result, we’re going to start to see some long-overdue improvements in the coming years.

What is a best practice of your company that you think others should adopt?

At Delta, it’s always been important that our people share in our success. That’s why 15 years ago, we put in place an employee profit-sharing plan that sends about 15 percent of Delta’s profits directly to our people. Over the last five years, we’ve paid over $1 billion in profits every year to Delta employees.

Our people know that due to the pandemic, 2020 won’t be a profitable year for Delta. But they also know that when we return to financial health, they will be rewarded equally alongside our stakeholders. This unity of employees, customers and owners is a great alignment. I think it’s one of the hallmarks of why Delta has the legendary employee service that it does.

Where have you drawn inspiration from during this challenging time?

More than anything, I’ve been inspired by the Delta people who have been working every day during the pandemic. I’ve also drawn strength from our customers, who have been flying for important reasons during these times. I’ve continued traveling throughout the past few months as well, and every flight I’m on, I’m stopped by customers, thanking Delta for continuing to provide our service despite the challenges of the pandemic.

People need to get to loved ones, they need to get to emergencies, and they want to connect to do business. Delta people are keeping the airways open as an essential service, and I’m proud of the work they’ve been doing to accomplish this.