Delta CEO Says He Drives a Tesla, Explains Why Delta Passed on Starlink

The Starlink Wi-Fi switch on the flight deck of an airliner flying with the service. Credit: Starlink/X

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said Friday that his airline’s decision to pass on Starlink wasn’t personal, telling CNBC’s Squawk Box there’s “no tit-for-tat” with Elon Musk and that he’s a Starlink fan who drives a Tesla.

Bastian spoke on the morning Delta reported record September-quarter revenue. In the interview, CNBC’s Phil LeBeau asked about reports that Bastian had told employees they didn’t want to “be in bed with Elon Musk.” Bastian rejected that, saying “there’s no tit-for-tat as far as I’m concerned.”

According to Bastian, Delta and Starlink go back further than most people realize. He said the two sides had “conversations six years ago when Starlink was just launching for aviation,” and that Delta gave SpaceX some of its planes to test the system on.

Bastian said the test went well, but the timing and terms didn’t line up. “It was fabulous. They just weren’t ready to scale when we were ready to go,” he said. “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.”

Bastian then pivoted to praise, calling himself “a big fan of Starlink” before adding, “I drive a Tesla, okay?” The idea that Delta’s choice was personal, he said, is “nonsense.”

In March, Delta signed a deal to install Amazon Leo, Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite network, on an initial 500 aircraft starting in 2028, with Wi-Fi staying free for SkyMiles members. On Friday, Bastian called Delta “the global pioneer in launching free and fast Wi-Fi as the industry standard” and said customers on its current Viasat and Hughes systems will get “meaningful improvements” by the end of this year, adding that he’s excited about Amazon Leo.

Musk has made no secret of what he thinks of Delta’s choice. On September 29 he posted that Delta “will lose a lot of customers,” then said of Bastian, “He will lose his job over this.” Asked about that on Friday, Bastian replied, “I don’t pay any attention to it.” Musk took another shot on Thursday afternoon, joking that “all super intelligence organizations” had agreed to move their AI safety testing to “Delta Airlines flights, where accessing the Internet is utterly impossible!”

Delta’s rivals spent that same Thursday lining up on the other side. American Airlines said it will put Starlink on its entire mainline fleet of more than 1,000 jets, and KLM picked Starlink for free Wi-Fi on its intercontinental flights. United already flies Starlink on more than 600 aircraft.

Bastian didn’t explain what “access to the customer” means in practice, whether that’s control of the login page, passenger data or how SkyMiles fits in. He also didn’t say whether Delta would ever revisit Starlink, or how long its Viasat and Hughes systems will stay on board once Leo installs begin in 2028.

For now, Delta flyers will settle the argument the simplest way possible, by whether the Wi-Fi loads at 35,000 feet. Bastian is promising it gets better by year-end, and Musk is betting that won’t be soon enough.