Name: Delta CEO: Being on a plane isn't as unsafe as you think
Uploaded: 2020-10-27
Duration: 1 min 25 s
Description: Ed Bastian discusses air travel during the pandemic.

 JEN WIECZNER: Let's talk more about those middle seats, because I believe you're the only US airline that's still blocking the middle seats. You've said you won't sell those middle seats until at least January 6. Is that the key to making planes safe? Is not having some person in the middle? ED BASTIAN: I don't think it's the key to keeping planes safe. In fact, we just came out as an industry with a study by the Harvard School of Public Health today, which indicated, and they did a lot of science and a lot of research around air travel and the impact of filtration systems and all the steps, the protocols we're taking. They have concluded that being on an airplane is actually safer than most things people are doing in public, like going to a restaurant, or going to a grocery store, or a shopping mall. So as a result of that, we have confidence in the safety of the plane. But there's a big difference between feeling safe on that plane and then feeling confident that you're sitting in a safe zone. And it's going to take some time, I think, before customers are confident sitting next to people on a crowded flight. And at Delta, we want to give them a little bit more time, certainly into the new year, to evaluate that for themselves. Obviously, our business model doesn't work blocking middle seats forever. But we have the ability to continue to manage that for the next few months. 

Delta CEO: Being on a plane isn't as unsafe as you think

Leadership

Ed Bastian discusses air travel during the pandemic.