Delta CEO's Optimistic View Is Covid-19 Will Be a 'Two-Year Journey'

Delta Air Lines is expecting a "two-year journey" before its operation resembles its pre-pandemic structure, CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday at the Skift Global Forum, though to get there, the airline may need to rely less on business customers than before.

"I don't think it is a five-year journey," Bastian told Airline Weekly editor-in-chief Madhu Unnikrishnan and Senior Analyst Jay Shabat. "I do think a portion of business travel is going to be lost for good because of video tools we have all been forced to learn how to use. That's OK. That is travel that isn't resilient. That isn't sustainable."

Like many U.S. airlines, Delta has shrunk, retiring and temporarily parking airplanes, asking employees to leave, and slashing its flight schedule. Delta is operating about half its originally planned domestic schedule, Bastian said, and c