Airline CEOs and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg fight over regulations even after election

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg snapped back Thursday at criticism from airline executives who say the Biden administration over-regulated them, pointing out that some of those airlines are making large profits despite new passenger-protection rules.

Buttigieg said the rules his department has imposed, including automatic cash refunds after flights are canceled, enjoy broad public support and “will stand the test of time.”

The comments came after the CEOs of Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines said they hoped the government will be more pro-business when President-elect Donald Trump returns to office. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the Trump administration will be “a breath of fresh air” for his industry.

“I know that some airline CEOs have expressed hopes that the next administration will be less passenger-friendly and more corporate-friendly than this administration,” Buttigieg responded during a news conference to discuss Thanksgiving travel. “The passenger protections that we have put in place deservedly enjoy broad public, bipartisan support. I just don't run into a lot of people who are against the idea that you ought to get an automatic refund without any hassle, for example.”

Buttigieg argued that strong passenger protections are good for the airline business.

“Some of these companies have been showing very healthy profits even at this new and higher level of consumer protection, demonstrating to me that these things can travel together,” he said.

It appeared to be a reference to Delta, the most profitable U.S. airline in recent years. Delta earned $2.6 billion in the first nine months of this year and $4.6 billion last year.

The airline industry has opposed many consumer-protections written by the Biden administration, even suing the Transportation Department to kill a rule requiring greater transparency over fees that airlines charge their passengers. Airlines also oppose a current department inquiry into their frequent-flyer programs.

Bastian, the Delta CEO, said he expected the Transportation Department under Trump to “take a fresh look at the regulatory environment, the bureaucracy that exists in government, the level of overreach that we have seen over the last four years within our industry.”

Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan said last week, “We are hopeful for a DOT (Department of Transportation) that is maybe a little less aggressive in terms of regulating or rule-making.”

Buttigieg noted that his department extracted a $140 million settlement from Southwest over widespread flight cancellations in December 2022 and is conducting a similar investigation into Delta, which canceled about 7,000 flights after a technology outage in July. He suggested airline CEOs should spend more time thinking about passengers and less about their regulator.