Ed Bastian | |
---|---|
Born | Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S. | June 6, 1957
Education | St. Bonaventure University (BBA) |
Title | Chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines |
Term | May 2, 2016 – present |
Predecessor | Richard Anderson |
Board member of | Aeroméxico, Atlanta Committee for Progress, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Woodruff Arts Center, Virgin Atlantic, Greater Atlanta Christian School |
Children | 4 |
Edward Herman Bastian (born June 6, 1957) is an American business executive. He is the ninth and current chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, serving in this role since May 2, 2016. [1]
Bastian grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, the oldest of nine children. His father was a dentist and his mother was a dental assistant. The couple operated a dental practice from within the family home. [2] He graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie in 1975. [3]
In 1979, Bastian received a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, New York. [4]
Bastian began his career as an auditor in New York City at Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). During a 1981 annual review, he uncovered a $50 million fraud scheme involving ad powerhouse J. Walter Thompson. [2] This prompted a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, leaving many PwC executives with marred careers. A few years later, Bastian was named partner at age 31. [2]
After PwC, he served as vice president at PepsiCo, where he managed international finances for its Frito-Lay snack division until 1998, when he joined Delta Air Lines as vice president - finance and controller. [5] In 2000, he was promoted to senior vice president – finance and controller. [6]
Bastian left Delta in 2005 to become senior vice president and chief financial officer at Acuity Brands. Six months later, at the request of then-Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein, he returned to the airline to serve as chief financial officer. [7] In 2007, he was appointed to president, a position he held until assuming the role of CEO in May 2016. [8] His transition to CEO was the first time Delta had chosen a chief executive officer from within the company since 1987. [9]
In 2019, Bastian was the only airline chief executive to skip a meeting at the White House between the president and airline executives, justifying the decision by explaining that it conflicted with his international vacation. [10]
In 2023, Bastian's total compensation from Delta was $34.2 million, representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 336-to-1. [11]
In 2024, Delta Air Lines went into a weeklong operational meltdown following the 2024 CrowdStrike incident while peer airlines quickly resumed normal operations. [12] During and after the operational collapse, Bastian and Delta faced criticism for doing only the "bare minimum" for consumers and only after pressure from regulators and politicians while Bastian avoided interviews and attended the Olympics in Paris. [13] [14] [15] [16] The Association of Flight Attendants accused him of taking a “first class seat” to Paris instead of taking ownership of the massive meltdown. [17] Meanwhile, a commentator described Bastian's decision to fly to Paris at the height of the meltdown as "the most Marie Antoinette thing any business could do". [18]
A father of 4, [19] he splits his time between Atlanta, where Delta Air Lines is headquartered, and Florida. [20]
Delta Air Lines is a major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the United States' oldest operating airline and the seventh-oldest operating worldwide. Delta, along with its subsidiaries and regional affiliates, including Delta Connection, operates over 5,400 flights daily and serves 325 destinations in 52 countries on six continents. Delta is a founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. As of the end of 2023, it had 100,000 employees.
Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 222 destinations worldwide. It is a founding member of the Star Alliance. Air Canada's major hubs are at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL), and Vancouver International Airport (YVR).
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the primary international airport serving Atlanta and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The airport is located 10 miles south of the Downtown Atlanta district. It is named after former Atlanta mayors William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson. The airport covers 4,700 acres of land and has five parallel runways which are aligned in an east-west direction. There are three runways that are 9,000 feet (2,743 m) long, one runway that is 10,000 feet (3,048 m) long, and the longest runway at ATL measures 12,390 feet (3,776 m) long, which can handle the Airbus A380. Since 1998, Hartsfield-Jackson has been the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic. In 2023, the airport served over 104.6 million passengers, the most of any airport in the world.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) was a regional airline in the United States based in the A-Tech Center in College Park, Georgia, flying to 144 destinations as a Delta Connection carrier on behalf of Delta Air Lines via a code sharing agreement and, as of February 2010, commenced service as a United Express carrier on behalf of United Airlines via a separate code sharing agreement. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest, Inc. ASA operated nearly 900 flights each day. Its main hub was located at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) which is also a hub for Delta. After a 2010 merger with ExpressJet, ASA adopted the ExpressJet name and branding in 2011.
Endeavor Air is an regional airline in the United States headquartered at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, and staffs, operates and maintains aircraft used on Delta Connection flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by Delta Air Lines.
Collett Everman Woolman, commonly known as "Wooly" to his employees, was an airline entrepreneur best known as the founder of Delta Air Lines.
Gerald ("Jerry") Grinstein is an American businessman, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Delta Air Lines. He was CEO of Burlington Northern Railroad from 1985 to 1995, and joined Delta's board of directors in 1987. He became CEO of Delta in 2004, a time of financial crisis for the airline. After overseeing the firm's survival through bankruptcy and implementing a restructuring program, he retired as CEO in 2007.
Our Lady of Lourdes High School is an American private Roman Catholic school, located in Poughkeepsie, New York, in Dutchess County.
Jim Whitehurst is an American business executive. He has been interim chief executive officer and president of Unity Technologies since October 2023. He was previously the president at IBM, chair of the board and chief executive officer at Red Hat, and chief operating officer at Delta Air Lines. Prior to working at Delta in 2001, he was vice president and director of the Boston Consulting Group and held various management roles at its Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Atlanta offices.
As of August 2024, the American Airlines fleet consists of 970 mainline aircraft, making it the third-largest commercial airline fleet in the world. American Airlines operates aircraft manufactured by Boeing and Airbus.
Douglas M. Steenland is an American former corporate attorney and former airline executive. He had a 17-year career at Northwest Airlines, where he held numerous executive roles, including as president from 2001 through 2008, and president and CEO of Northwest from October 2004 until its merger with Delta Air Lines in October 2008. Since then he has served on a number of boards of directors, and as an advisor to the Blackstone Group.
On April 15, 2008, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced a merger agreement. The merger of the two carriers formed what was then the largest commercial airline in the world, with 786 aircraft. The Delta Air Lines brand was retained, while Northwest's brand officially ended in 2010.
As of August 2024, the Delta Air Lines fleet consists of 993 mainline aircraft, making it the largest commercial airline fleet in the world. Delta Air Lines operates a fleet manufactured by Airbus and Boeing.
Vicki Escarra is an American business executive and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Vicki Escarra LLC and serves as a Senior Advisor and Executive Coach at Boston Consulting Group. Vicki is primarily known for her tenure as CMO of Delta Air Lines, CEO of Feeding America, and Global CEO of Opportunity International.
Delta Air Lines is a major American airline. The company's history began with the world's first aerial crop dusting operation called Huff Daland Dusters Inc., founded in 1925 in Macon, Georgia to combat the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops. C.E. Woolman, general manager and later Delta's first CEO, led a group of investors to acquire the company's assets. Delta Air Service was incorporated on December 3, 1928, and named after the Mississippi Delta region.
Richard H. Anderson is a retired American lawyer and business executive. In his early career, he served as a prosecutor and corporate attorney, before moving into executive positions. His most prominent roles were as CEO of several large companies in the transportation industry: Northwest Airlines (2001–2004), Delta Air Lines (2007–2016), and Amtrak (2017–2020).
Hollis Loyd Harris served as President and COO of Delta Air Lines (1987-1990) and Chairman, President, and CEO of Continental Airlines (1990-1991), Air Canada (1992-1996), and World Airways (1999-2004). According to author Harry Nolan, Harris led the latter three airlines "out of the turbulence of financial instability toward profitability." In 1997 Harris and Steve Wolf signed a strategic agreement between Air Canada and United Airlines, producing what is now the Star Alliance, which grew to become the world's largest global airline alliance.
Leo F. Mullin is an American executive and civic activist who was CEO and Chairman of Delta Air Lines (1997-2004). He led Delta during one of the most tumultuous periods in aviation history, beginning in 1997, just as airlines were struggling to emerge from the economic crises of the early 1990s. Three years into his tenure as CEO, he also was named Board Chairman of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), representing the world’s airlines. Mullin achieved particular prominence following the September 11, 2001 tragedy when, with the airline industry on the brink of failure, he was the chief legislative and public spokesperson for the industry’s recovery program. He retired as CEO of Delta in 2003, and as chairman in 2004. After Delta, Mullin has emerged as a leader in both the public and private sectors, working for other companies and continuing to be a philanthropic contributor.
In mid July 2024, Delta Air Lines, a major U.S. carrier and the largest airline in the world by revenue, assets, market capitalization experienced an operational meltdown following the 2024 CrowdStrike incident including the cancelation of over 1,200 flights. The crisis began on the morning of Friday, July 19 when a ground stop was issued by major carriers but while other carriers quickly recovered, the crisis continued for Delta with the airline finally resuming normal flight operations on July 25. Delta confirmed that the crisis resulted in the cancellation of over 7,000 flights over the five days of the meltdown affecting over 1.3 million passengers.
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