Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian stated that he has no public feuds with Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
“In my opinion, there’s no such thing as tit-for-tat revenge here at all,” he said in an interview with CNBC on Friday regarding Musk’s recent remarks against this airline on X. “I’m a loyal fan of Starlink. I also appreciate what Elon is doing. I drive a Tesla. Understand? So there’s really nothing to it. All that nonsense about personal grudges is completely false.”
This seemingly one-sided dispute seems to have begun in March, when Delta Air Lines chose Amazon's Leo as its next-generation satellite internet provider, rather than SpaceX's Starlink. Musk posted at the time warning that the airline "didn't realize how much of an impact this would have on them."
In the past two weeks, Musk has intensified his criticism of Bastian and Delta Air Lines. Previously, an aviation industry account JonNYC posted unverified quotes allegedly from Bastian, which included a warning: “We don’t want to be with Elon Musk. Believe me.”
On the same day, Musk reposted an article containing these unverified statements and stated that Bastian would “lose his job as a result.”
“@ garyleff @ Delta He will lose his job over this ” — Elon Musk (@ elonmusk), September 30, 2026
Since that unverified comment, Musk has posted multiple times about Delta Air Lines, mocking the company's internet choices: "The best way to put AI in a sandbox is to put it on a Delta flight," he wrote in late September.
Bastian is not the first airline to anger Musk. In January of this year, Musk and Michael O'Leary of the European low-cost airline Ryanair CEO exchanged sharp words on X because the company stated that, for cost reasons, they did not install Starlink on their planes.
At that time, Musk initiated a poll on X, asking users whether he should acquire Ryanair and finding someone named Ryan to take over as the main person in charge. O'Leary, known for his straightforwardness, responded with a promotion offering seats with the tagline “great idiots”.
Dame's Bastian, on the other hand, took a completely different approach.
“I don’t really care,” he said when asked about this dispute by CNBC, “Everyone has the right to express their own opinions.”
Business Insider contacted Delta Air Lines for a comment, but there was no immediate response.
