Delta CEO Ed Bastian says there’s ‘no tit for tat’ with Elon Musk as earnings miss

“There’s no tit for tat as far as I’m concerned,” Bastian told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau on Squawk Box on Friday, when asked whether he passed on SpaceX’s Starlink Wi-Fi because he didn’t want to work with Musk. “I’m a big fan of Starlink. I drive a Tesla.”

He added: “This nonsense about it being personal is not true at all. The reality is, Delta is the global pioneer in launching free and fast Wi-Fi as the industry standard.” Asked about Musk’s post that he would lose his job, Bastian said: “I don’t pay any attention.”

The first missed earnings report in two years

The interview came as Delta missed Wall Street earnings estimates for the first time in two years and cut its 2026 profit forecast. Jet fuel prices have surged since the Iran war started in February, and as a result, Delta’s adjusted fuel expense rose 62% from a year earlier to $4.1 billion in the September quarter.

Still, Delta posted record September-quarter revenue of $17.6 billion, up 16%, and a pretax profit of $1.5 billion, matching last year. Premium ticket revenue rose 18% to $6.8 billion, and loyalty revenue grew 18%, putting American Express payments on track to exceed $9 billion for the year.

Delta expects December-quarter revenue to grow about 20%, and full-year earnings of $5.10 to $5.60 per share, along with a $6 billion increase in fuel costs.

Those premium fliers are the customers Delta’s rivals are courting with Starlink.

The fight with Musk began in March, when Delta chose Amazon Leo over Starlink, starting with an initial installation on 500 aircraft beginning in 2028. Delta says Leo offers retail, Amazon Prime, video, and gaming at a much lower price than Starlink.

In May, Musk offered a different reason. He said Delta wanted passengers to log in through its own Delta Sync portal, which would funnel them into its loyalty program and present the Wi-Fi as a Delta perk rather than a Starlink service. “Delta wanted to make it painful, difficult, and expensive for their customers,” Musk posted on X. Delta called the claim inaccurate.

The dispute turned personal in late September. The aviation account JonNYC reported that Bastian told employees, “We do not want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me.” While the remarks have not been independently verified or confirmed by Delta, Musk responded on X that Bastian “will lose his job” over the decision.

Rivals moved in. On Oct. 1, United launched a status-match offer aimed at Delta fliers, and American invited those “suddenly reconsidering” their airline loyalty to switch, both of which Musk reposted. On Thursday, American said it would put Starlink on its entire mainline fleet, more than 1,030 aircraft, starting in 2027.

That leaves Delta as the only one of the three largest U.S. carriers without it. United, which signed with Starlink in 2024, expects it on its entire fleet by the end of 2027, before Delta installs Leo on a single aircraft.

On CNBC, Bastian did not say whether he made the reported remarks to employees. He pointed to business terms instead. Delta first talked with SpaceX six years ago and lent it planes for testing, he said.

“It was fabulous. They just weren’t ready to scale when we were ready to go, and we had disagreements on the business model in terms of access to the customer,” he said. “I won’t get into any details.”

Until Leo arrives, Bastian said, customers on Delta’s current Hughes and Viasat systems “are going to see meaningful improvements” by the end of this year.