Speaker 1:

From the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in New York City, welcome Inside the ICE House. Our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange is your go to for the latest on markets, leadership, vision, and business. For over 230 years, the NYSE has been the beating heart of global growth. Each week, we bring you inspiring stories of innovators, job creators, and the movers and shakers of capitalism here at the NYSE and ICE's exchanges around the world. Now, let's go Inside the ICE House. Here's your host, Lance Glinn.

Lance Glinn:

Welcome in to another episode of the Inside the Ice House Podcast inside our brand new studio here at the New York Stock Exchange. Our first one in this new space, and we are so excited to be joined by today's guest, Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, that's NYSE ticker Symbol D-A-L. Here at the 233-year-old New York Stock Exchange, Delta is celebrating their centennial, becoming the first US airline to reach 100 years. We welcome Ed to look back at what's made Delta successful, discuss the company's impact on the aviation industry and how he's positioning Delta for success in the next century. Ed, thanks so much for joining us inside the Ice House. Really happy to have you here.

Ed Bastian:

It's great to be with you.

Lance Glinn:

So before we start, this is the first episode in our new studio. Over seven years we spent in the library, which is six floors up from where the trading floor is, but today marks our move into this new space.

Now, we at the NYSC are 233 years old, and we're so excited to obviously have Delta here to celebrate its centennial, 100 years old, the first US airline to reach that mark. First off, what do you think of the new space and how fun was it to ring the bell this morning to celebrate Central Milestone?

Ed Bastian:

Well, congratulations on the new space. It's beautiful. I think people will love to come here. And Lynn gave me a tour earlier this morning about the bar and the different things that are being created. It's incredible. And the history, this is the vault from over 200 years or whatever it was in terms of what was created. And it was really special. It's always special to come to the NYSE. And you guys are always so gracious with us and hosting us. And New York is a big part of our marketplace. We're the airline of New York. It's one of the biggest markets that we serve and the investments that we've made in LaGuardia and JFK and the growth we've seen here in this market is fantastic. And this is the center of capitalism for me, being on farm. From New York originally, don't live here anymore, but every time I'm back and I'm on the floor, I pinch myself. I remember the very first day, I think I was in high school on a trip, coming to the floor, and I was amazed-

Lance Glinn:

A lot's changed.

Ed Bastian:

Yeah, there was a lot of people running around and a lot of paper and a lot of action. You don't see that as much today, but it's still the centerpiece for capital flow and formation and for companies that want to be with the very best. And that's what you guys are. And so for me, it's always an opportunity. And 100 years is amazing, but we're young compared to you guys. So we're going to keep going to our second century.

Lance Glinn:

Absolutely. Now, 100 years is a monumental achievement for any company, but I imagine it hits differently when you're the one, and no pun intended here, obviously flying the plane of Delta Air Lines. You haven't been around for all 100 years. I know you've been with Delta. I think your career started in 1998 with the company, so about 27 years. But when you look at those 27 and even the 73 years before, how does this moment resonate with you, not just to have obviously started with the company, but to now be leading it?

Ed Bastian:

Well, I think those last 25 or 30 years probably have seen the greatest challenge. In our 100-year history, it's been the greatest growth. Today, our revenues are four times the size that they were back 25 years ago. When you think about how we've grown our business and our footprint and our brand around the world, not just around the US. Back then, we were a US company, but very much a southeast-centric airline. Today, we're a true global airline, and our future is to continue to grow that international aspect of the business. So I take a lot of pride. When you look through all that and you say, "What is the common denominator?" It's people.

And Delta always had a heart for service. That's in our DNA. And our founder a hundred years ago say, "Take good care of your people. " And they will then take care of your customers. And we're in a customer obsessed world, and I told you we are a customer obsessed, but I'm not a customer obsessed. I'm people obsessed in terms of my own people and making sure I listen to them, I give them the tools, I give them the technologies, I give them the support they need so that they can obsess on our customers. And it has to happen. The people delivering the product have to feel the trust and the confidence of their leadership to go make it happen and know that we always have their back, particularly when you're in an environment where you're flying planes and people all around the world in all kinds of conditions.

Lance Glinn:

Yeah. And people are relying on you and Delta to obviously get from point A to point B. And I think that point A to point B, as the aviation industry and the airline industry has transformed, it's gone from just being like you sit in the seat, you fly from one place to another. It's now a holistic experience when you leave your house to when you ultimately get to where you're going. And I think that speaks a lot to the different partnerships that obviously Delta has set up. Now, I know there's one partnership with Uber. It feels like more than just a convenience, but a real strategic move to redefine this end-to-end travel experience. Walk us through this thinking with Uber, what made them the right partner and how does this partnership fit into Delta's vision for really seamless travel from start to finish?

Ed Bastian:

Well, Dara and I have been talking for years about needing to get together our teams together. And we had some other partners on both sides that we were working with and we decided to make changes and create this unique partnership. It's exclusive and it's exclusive in the premium category. So where Uber is looking to grow it's businesses where Delta has been growing for years, it's the premium component and that's unique about where we sit. The most important source of trips for Uber is airports. No surprise in terms of revenue base. I think the number is 15% of their revenues are trips to and from airports.

We do airports better than anybody. We understand airports, we understand logistics at airports, and we want to make the experience for our consumer as seamless as possible. We want to take people right through, have a seamless connection into their Uber ride to get them home safely. Or if they're not on Uber, maybe Joby, another partner of ours on eVTOL for the future. And when you have a common purpose, as our two brands do, and it's focused on service and people and taking great care of them, there's magic that can occur. And that's where we're experimenting. We only announced it this year. I think we started in the spring in terms of actually customers getting the ability to sign up on both platforms and be joint customers. We have well over a million customers have signed up already just in a handful of months to be part of this. So there's a strong demand set and it grows every month.

Lance Glinn:

Well, congratulations, not only on the 100 years, but on all the success of this partnership. And I know Delta also has a longstanding relationship with American Express and the collaboration seems like a real gateway to a premium travel experience from access to different benefits to elevated rewards. How does this partnership with Amex really enhance the connection customers have with Delta and provide them just a greater overall experience flying?

Ed Bastian:

Well, once again, our focus has been on the higher end, the premium experience of travel. And we live in the experience economy, and the higher you go within the experience, the greater the demand we're seeing for it. And Delta is the provider of that from a travel perspective, particularly air travel. Amex is the provider of that from a credit card perspective and the unique opportunities they can afford people and people carry their card with pride. When they use that card, just like Delta customers, I see them always want to show me their Delta loyalty card or their Delta Amex card. We are 10% of Amex's worldwide billings and an even more powerful stat is 30% of Amex's US consumer spend is on the Delta card. So that tells you, again, we're growing together. We've seen our card continue to grow double digits even during some of the disruption this year and some of the questions about consumer confidence. It continued to grow through the pandemic. That really took off during the pandemic.

People want to get those Delta points, the Delta rewards and they sit as they were buying back during the pandemic about the trips they were going to take when they could start to flight and-

Lance Glinn:

Planning ahead.

Ed Bastian:

For sure. And that shows the true synchronicity between our two brands and very, very complimentary purposes and shared customer goals.

Lance Glinn:

So Ed, trust has become really a cornerstone of the travel experience. Customers want clarity on pricing, on policies, some even on sustainability commitments to a certain extent. How is Delta working to build and obviously maintain that trust that's gotten you to a hundred years? And what role does transparency play in strengthening the relationship between your airline and its customers?

Ed Bastian:

I think transparency is incredible. And trust is a currency that we have to always put it right at the top of our list of what we want our customers to think about Delta. We want them to think about Delta in lots of different ways, but trust I think would probably be the first word. The first word I use always when I talk about the experience, is safety, the trust in terms of reliability of the product, getting people to where they need to be with their bags, with a smile, on time. That's our core promise. And that is easy to say, hard to do. And there's no one out there that does that better than Delta day in and day out. That's the platform, by the way, where you build premium from.

If you don't have the platform that is a high end, reliable experience, all the other stuff, you can't put the hard goods in, you can't put the fancy lounges in, if customers are going to feel like they're let down with the core, the core promise why they come to you. So that's where we've had a significant lead over the last 15 to 20 years.

Business Travel News recently named us yet again, the number one airline for business travel, 15 years in a row. You talk about trust and Business Travel News surveys all business travelers around the US and around the world, and they come back to Delta. And then transparency is then the next component of trust. And that's really one of the things we want customers to feel more in control of when they're traveling. And that's why we're making the big investments in our app. That's where we launched at the Sapphire during the consumer electronic show this year, Delta Concierge, which will be an opportunity to take that app and feel like you've got your own red coat in your palm to be able to take care of whatever experiences happen. We understand sometimes planes get delayed or issues happen. For us, it's not the fact that issues occur. It's what you do when issues occur that defines who you are and transparency is key to that.

Giving people insight into what caused the disruption, what we know about the disruption, when they can plan for the change, or whether it's, as you say, pricing, where are price points and giving people visibility across cabins to make decisions as to where they want to invest with us.

Lance Glinn:

Now, no trend or technology is impacting the world we live in more than AI right now. One of the possible benefits of AI, of course, is personalization. And that in itself I think has become an expectation for consumers. How is Delta leveraging technology and AI specifically to obviously create experiences that feel personal to individual travelers? And how are these innovations just showing up in different steps of the flying process?

Ed Bastian:

Well, we know our customers really well. They spend a lot of time with us and they expect us to know them well. They expect us to know what they prefer, what they like, to make their travel experience easier, to make it more seamless, and whether that's understanding when you board a Delta One cabin flying to Europe, you're understanding what you want, when you sit down in that plane or what we can do to offer you the service level that you uniquely desire, we're learning more and more about those experiences.

One of the reasons why we launched Delta Concierge, when you think about a concierge experience at a five-star, seven-star hotel, it's someone that has knowledge, has insight, wants to go out and anticipate what you might like and offer you those opportunities. Well, that's what we're looking to. We understand most customers start their journey first picking their airline, first getting their booking in place, and then they start to build around that. Knowing you, knowing where you've been, what you like, what you don't like, and allowing through agentic AI and generative agents and opportunities to offer you things that you want that are unique, not to sell you, not to bug you, but to enhance the experience space, that builds loyalty.

And we want that app to be the center and the concierge experience to be the center of your travel booking. We don't need you to go to another travel agency. We don't need you to go online and shop us on price. You have confidence and trust in that. And whether, again, it's an Uber opportunity or Starbucks or one of our hotel partners, whatever we can do to give you a better experience, that's going to build deeper loyalty.

Lance Glinn:

So I want to pivot the conversation to some growth opportunities for the company and begin with just reaching into new markets, Riyadh, Marrakesh, Sardinia, Porto, Malta, among many others that are either now routes that Delta's flying or new routes that are obviously on the docket in 2026. How do you identify which new routes will not only be profitable, but also obviously strengthen Delta's global reach and your ability to take consumers from point A where they're flying from to maybe even a new point B they've never been to?

Ed Bastian:

Well, we know there's many places in the world that Delta does not fly to from the US that we have opportunities to go to. And earlier I was speaking of the fact that only one in five people in the world have ever stepped foot on an airplane. And you think about that stat, when you think about how mature air travel seems to be in the US where you can get on a plane seemingly almost any hour of the day to go almost anywhere you want in the US, that's not true in other parts of the world. And so that will be our second century of flight that will be expanding our international and our global horizons. We spend a lot of time studying the various places where people want to go and understand. The good thing about our industry, there's a lot of data out there. You get to see what's happening and where the trends are.

We did something interesting earlier this year. We asked our SkyMiles customers to vote on opportunities between our... We put out Sardinia, we put out Malta out there and we gave customers a couple of other options. We said, "Where do you want us to go?" And they picked Sardinia first and Malta second, and that's where we went. Another opportunity we thought was going to be more popular was Ibiza. Ibiza came in third. Now, we're going to go to Ibiza at some point, but it's not going to be...

Listening to your customers and seeing where they want to go and having customers help dictate is exciting. We had a lot of fun with that idea. Riyadh, we announced a couple of weeks ago, I was in Riyadh for the FII and I announced that new route starting. Amazing. People look in the Middle East. We fly to Tel Aviv, but we don't go into the Gulf countries at all because Dubai and Doha and Etihad saturate Abu Dhabi, it's saturated with those services. But Riyadh is still a really important new market to occur that doesn't have the level of service offerings those other countries and cities do. Riyadh is far and away, much more powerful economically than any of those places. Riyadh has four times the GDP that Dubai has.

And you look at the fact that they're so far behind, it's an underserved market. That was an easy one to say Delta's got to get in there. And we've got a strong relationship with the PIF as well as the Kingdom. And they launched a new airline called Riyadh Air this year that we've been helping them and partnering with them to get off the ground. So it comes in lots of different ways. It's about being a citizen of the world. India's the next place. We announced we got a relationship with IndiGo, which is the largest, fastest growing carrier in India. 1.5 billion people growing double digits year on year, fastest growing economy by far in the world. You got to be there. And Delta is going to be an important part of that development.

Lance Glinn:

All right. So Ed, before we begin to wrap up our conversation, I have a few rapid fire type questions I want to throw your away that I think a lot of travelers deal with. I'm curious about your answers. So we'll go one by one. There's four. First one, seat choice, window or aisle?

Ed Bastian:

I'm aisle. And the reason being is I get a little more quiet when I'm at the aisle. I used to be a window guy.

Lance Glinn:

Window?

Ed Bastian:

But window is my preference now. Yeah.

Lance Glinn:

In flight entertainment, movies, music, podcasts, or work or sleep?

Ed Bastian:

Work.

Lance Glinn:

Work?

Ed Bastian:

Yeah. I'm usually very active in the course of the day. And even when I'm on planes, I'm very active with our people and customers. It's the time I can, because we have great free wifi. I get a chance to get caught up on my email.

Lance Glinn:

If you had to choose red eye or early morning departure.

Ed Bastian:

Oh, I don't do red eyes. I'm too old. I quit red eyes. Of course, internationally you do red eyes, but domestic red eyes, I quit those about 10 years ago. I said, so I'll get up early for a flight, but I won't do a red eye.

Lance Glinn:

Finally, are you a get there early and relaxed type of traveler, or are you a cut it close and head straight to the gate to travel?

Ed Bastian:

I'm a cut it close. Head rate to the point I stress my own team out sometimes because they realize they're not holding the plane for me. And then make sure I get on the plane. So many times I'm the last aboard.

Lance Glinn:

So Ed, as we wrap up our conversation, reaching a hundred years is an incredible milestone, but it also obviously sets the stage for the next chapter. When you think about Delta second century, what does success look like?

Ed Bastian:

Success looks like growth on the global stage. Continuing to connect more communities and more opportunities for people. It means bringing technology. There's a lot of interesting offerings with AI and other agentic tools or digital tools out there that we can help make the airport experience more seamless, the security experience more seamless, the travel experience more seamless. We want to be able to use those tools. But at the end of the day, there's going to be much more in common than not, and that's because of our people. Always making certain our people at the core of whatever we're delivering. And that technology will be new and it'll be interesting and exciting, but it's the people that bring it to life.

Lance Glinn:

Well, congratulations on 100 years. Thank you so much for joining us inside The Ice House.

Ed Bastian:

I enjoyed it. Thank you. Congratulations on your new spot here.

Lance Glinn:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

That's our conversation for this week. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen and follow us on X, @ICEHousePodcast. From the New York Stock Exchange, we'll talk to you again next week, Inside the ICE House. Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties expressed or implied as to the accuracy or completeness of the information and do not sponsor, approve, or endorse any of the content herein, all of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the proceeding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.