Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian
Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian

Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian said Friday there is no feud with Elon Musk, and that the airline's decision to install Amazon's satellite internet instead of SpaceX's Starlink was a business choice, not a personal one.

"There's no tit for tat as far as I'm concerned," Bastian told CNBC's Phil LeBeau on Squawk Box when asked whether Delta had passed on Starlink because he did not want to work with Musk. "I'm a big fan of Starlink. I drive a Tesla." He added, "This nonsense about it being personal is not true at all. The reality is, Delta is the global pioneer in launching free and fast Wi-Fi as the industry standard." Asked about a Musk post predicting he would lose his job, Bastian said, "I don't pay any attention." In a separate account of the same interview he said, "I'm a fan of what Elon does. I drive a Tesla. OK? So there's nothing. All this nonsense about being personal is not true at all," and, "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion."

Bastian also described Delta's early testing of the SpaceX system. "It was fabulous. They just weren't ready to scale when we were ready to go. And we had disagreements on the business model in terms of access to the customer and various other things that I won't get into any details."

Delta chose Amazon Leo in March, with an initial installation on 500 aircraft beginning in 2028. Musk posted at the time that "Delta wanted to make it painful, difficult, and expensive for their customers." Delta called that claim inaccurate. The exchange sharpened in late September after the aviation account JonNYC reported that Bastian had told employees, "We do not want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me." Those remarks have not been independently verified or confirmed by Delta. Musk responded on X that Bastian "will lose his job" over the decision.

The denial came on a day Delta also discussed results. The airline expects December-quarter revenue to grow about 20 percent and full-year earnings of $5.10 to $5.60 a share, along with a $6 billion increase in fuel costs. Competitors have been adding Starlink as a premium-cabin feature. Delta's free Wi-Fi program, already in place on much of its fleet, is the product Bastian pointed to as the industry standard his airline set.

A CEO who says he drives a Tesla and that early Starlink tests were "fabulous," while declining to detail a dispute over customer access, is describing a commercial negotiation that ended with another vendor. Musk's posts treat the outcome as a slight. Bastian's CNBC appearance treats it as settled. The 500-aircraft Amazon installation is scheduled to begin in 2028. Whether that timeline holds, and whether any of Musk's predictions about Bastian's job do, is not in Friday's interview.

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