Delta CEO Ed Bastian Shares His Playbook for Unconventional Leadership

The airline industry is defined by high capital costs, volatile fuel prices, and razor-thin margins. As Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, told listeners at a recent speaker event hosted at Yale SOM, “Whoever offered the cheapest price was the airline people chose. If price was going to be the principal determinant for where we drew our revenue base, Delta wasn’t going to make it.”

Bastian was visiting Yale as part of the CEO Speaker Series organized by the Yale Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management (Y-SIM), a Yale SOM center that equips current and future leaders with the frameworks they need to create long-term value for all stakeholders. The series, moderated by Yale SOM executive fellow Jon Iwata, brings leaders to campus to discuss today’s most consequential business decisions. The series is also open to participants from across the Global Network of Advanced Management, who join virtually. Speaking candidly to a group of students and faculty, Bastian described how unconventional leadership decisions—from creating one of the industry’s largest profit-sharing programs to buying an oil refinery—facilitated Delta’s transformation from bankrupt company to industry leader.

When Delta emerged from bankruptcy two decades ago, employees had endured deep pay cuts and widespread job losses. At the time, Bastian was the company’s CFO, tasked with leading restructuring. “The hardest thing you have to do is tell someone they no longer have a job or that they’re going to reduce their pay,” he recalled. His promise to workers was simple: once the airline returned to profitability, they would share in the rewards. He ultimately oversaw the creation of a profit-sharing program that, in 2024, returned $1.4 billion to employees.

While shareholders initially balked at this model, Bastian said they eventually came to see how profit-sharing would improve Delta’s overall performance. “The better job that our employees do, the better job our shareholders are going to do, the better job our customers are going to see in terms of performance, the better job we’re going to do for communities,” he said. What began as a controversial idea has since become a model for the industry, reinforcing Delta’s long-term resilience.

Bastian also chose to invest heavily in predictive maintenance analytics. In 2010, the year after its merger with Northwest, Delta suffered more than 6,000 cancellations due to maintenance—equivalent to two full days of its schedule. By 2019, that number had fallen to just 60, a 99% reduction. This operational reliability, Bastian said, not only lifted customer confidence but also energized employees. When workers saw the tools and infrastructure improving, they responded with renewed energy and service.

Perhaps Delta’s boldest move in recent years was its purchase of a century-old refinery outside Philadelphia in 2012—a surprising decision for a service company. Bastian said he was motivated by the fact that fuel is the company’s second-largest cost. While Delta could not control global oil prices, it could control refining margins. Today, that refinery supplies 75% of Delta’s U.S. system.

For Bastian, culture is the true differentiator in a business where most assets—planes, routes, fuel—can be copied. “The only thing that separates an airline is its people and its culture,” he told the Yale audience. To that end, he has always maintained a public email address where customers and employees can reach him. “I want to be accessible, I want to be heard,” he said. “I get hundreds if not thousands of emails and notes and texts a day, but it allows me to stay in touch with our customers, with our people, with our community.”

Bastian closed his talk by reiterating that resilience depends on staying focused amidst external noise. “We know our mission, we know our purpose, we know our values,” he said. “You almost have to have some blinders on. You hear the noise, but you don’t let it stop you.”

Watch the full video of the event.