Don’t count on to identify Delta Air Strains CEO Ed Bastian lingering on the entrance of the boarding line—he’s often nowhere close to it.
“I’m terrible,” Bastian admitted throughout an offstage interview final week on the Fortune World Discussion board in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “I’m one of the last people to get on board the flight, and our team’s always rushing to make sure that I’m there because planes will not wait for me.”
Bastian, 68, has spent practically a decade on the helm of America’s most worthwhile airline, steering the Fortune 500 big via crises from 9/11 and chapter to the COVID-19 pandemic. After becoming a member of Delta in 1998, Bastian rose via six management roles earlier than changing into CEO in 2016, however didn’t observe the entire recommendation he obtained for easy methods to be the highest boss.
“The worst advice I ever received was [from] a former mentor who told me when I became CEO, I needed to create a unique identity, something that people couldn’t find me,” Bastian stated. “He told me I’ll never have a moment of peace because I was too public.”
Bastian listened, however selected to not observe the advice: “I thanked him for that, and I did not do that.”
“They’ll think I’m some kind of fancy bot, and they’ll respond, ‘Wow, you’ve got a great agentic device there,’” he joked. “I say, ‘No, it’s me. I’m bored on a Saturday afternoon, just clearing out my inbox.’”
Even in particular person, Delta passengers are sometimes shocked to see the chief government seated in economic system, eagerly awaiting Biscoff cookies and a Coke Zero from the snack cart.
“Many times when I travel, I’m sitting in coach,” Bastian stated. “It’s always interesting because customers come back and say, ‘Why are you back here?’ And I say, ‘That’s about what my ticket could afford,’ and [I’m] usually next to the restroom.” To make certain, Bastian’s present compensation package deal is about $27 million, however airline executives do generally must journey coach when premium seats are bought out.
Delta’s people-first technique
Contemporary off a robust third-quarter earnings launch with $15.2 billion in document September income, Bastian informed Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on stage Delta’s success hinges not on planes or expertise, however on its folks.
“In our business, everyone focuses on the airline, the aircraft, the technology, the airports, the amazing destinations we get to,” he stated. “But it’s the staff that bring it to life.”.
After saying the Atlanta-based provider’s first-ever direct flights between the U.S. and Riyadh alongside Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas, Bastian added he “obsesses” over his 100,000 workers “so that they can then go do the amazing work that our customers deserve.”
“If your people don’t feel that love and respect and care, they’re never going to be able to give you the service that you expect,” Bastian stated.
The technique has paid off: Delta ranks No. 15 on the Fortune 100 Greatest Corporations to Work For, and No. 70 on this 12 months’s Fortune 500 record as essentially the most worthwhile U.S. airline, forward of friends like American, United, and Southwest.
However Bastian’s people-first method extends past philosophy. Lengthy earlier than he turned CEO, the previous chief monetary officer helped design one in all company America’s most beneficiant profit-sharing packages in 2007. After rising from a 19-month chapter, Delta pledged to distribute billions of {dollars} in bonuses again to its workforce for yearly that it hit its targets. In 2024, the worker share totaled $1.4 billion, amounting to round 10% of base pay.
“Rewarding our people is fundamental to who we are at Delta,” Bastian wrote in a February assertion saying the payouts. “It’s always my No. 1 priority to take care of the Delta team.”
Delta CEO Ed Bastian joined Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell and Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas on the Fortune World Discussion board on October 27, 2025.
Stuart Isett for Fortune
Delta CEO’s management recommendation
Offstage on the Fortune World Discussion board, Bastian, the longest-serving chief government amongst main U.S. airways, additionally mirrored on his profession journey and provided recommendation for the subsequent era of leaders: “Leadership is not a popularity contest.”
“We all want to be liked, we all want to be loved,” he stated. “But leadership involves also making hard choices, hard decisions with a lot of respect and confidence.”
Earlier this 12 months, Bastian confirmed to Fortune’s Shawn Tully that Delta’s board has named an inner candidate as his successor, marking the primary time he publicly disclosed this contingency plan, however emphasised he nonetheless has “a number of years to go,” including, “This is not a swan song.”
However of all of the enterprise recommendation he’s obtained through the years, Bastian says his most impactful knowledge got here from his late mom: “She told us, growing up, you’ve got two ears and one mouth, use them accordingly.”
He defined that in enterprise, leaders usually give attention to sending messages moderately than listening: “We don’t take enough time to learn, to listen, to be able to make sure we understand each other.”
For Bastian, it’s an important ability to type higher relationships and gasoline private {and professional} progress.
“You learn a lot more,” he stated. “That curiosity really is one of the hallmarks, I believe, of my career.”
