“I’d much rather make the mistake of leaving a couple of months’ worth of demand on the table because we cut more, and then you can get it back, as opposed to making the mistake of oil prices staying higher and longer, and you’re flying flights that lose cash,” Kirby added at the conference. CEO Ed Bastian also shared that Delta has already seen a decline in sales to Europeans, because “when you’ve got a war in your backyard, people tend to stay home.” Bastian also indicated that Delta is well-positioned to emerge stronger, as its status as a premium brand puts it in a “position of strength” to raise airfare prices. While there’s a lot of fear-mongering about the health of the American consumer, the biggest thing that actually has a well-documented history of changing consumer behavior is the cost of oil.
Author: Tom Bricker
Published at: 2026-03-22 23:41:50
Still want to read the full version? Full article
