Industry leaders predict reduced regulation, taxes, certainty, and uncertainty are all a possibility.
An American Airlines 737-800 taxing at Boston Logan International Airport. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Executives at two prominent U.S. carriers said they were looking forward to working with the new administration under President-elect Donald Trump at the Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas on Tuesday. This comes after Delta’s CEO commented on the positive impact a second Trump presidency might have on the industry.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and Drew Wells, chief commercial officer at ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant, expressed their optimism alongside Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) during the forum.
Isom said that it’s great to have the election finished.
“First off, I’d just like to say that certainty helps, right?” Isom said. “Taking uncertainty out of the equation is going to be beneficial all around. And so it’s great to have the election behind us.”
“We support commerce,” he continued. “And I know that no matter who’s in office, that’s important. In regard to President Trump, I think we have a good indication from the last administration of the real enthusiasm for aviation. Don’t forget, under President Trump’s watch, we started support for the airline industry in the U.S. during the darkest days, the earliest days of COVID.”
Without that support, Isom said American and the airline industry as a whole would look very different, adding that he was thankful for the attention the industry received during the pandemic.
American Airlines aircraft parked on a runway during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
“As we go forward, I think that that’s the message,” Isom said. “We have to invest in this industry. It’s critically important within the U.S. and certainly [the] globe…We really do need to do what’s right to enable people to come together. And on that front, we’ve got some work to do to enable people to get to the United States with allowing a lot more visas.”
Delta CEO Ed Bastian also said that he expects Trump’s return to the White House to be positive, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
“I think on balance, the platform [Trump] ran on was to try to unlock business potential by looking at regulation as to where it was most effective in trying to ease the bureaucracy, ease the burdens,” Bastian said in the Chattanooga Times Free Press report.
Wells said during the Skift Aviation Forum he thinks there will probably be a bit more of a relaxed stance on what the Department of Justice may pursue when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.
“I think there were some, perhaps, tax-friendly aspects of the first term. But beyond that, I don’t know that I have any great answers. I really like the Allegiant story regardless of who’s in office. And I think there’s an immense amount of runway to come, regardless of what happens there.”
Walsh said he sees the situation as a positive for airlines.
“I think if you look at the administration under Trump the first time round, it was very positive,” he said. “You know, Robert Isom made the comment, and I’ve heard others say it too, that [the Trump administration] stepped in very quickly to secure the future of the industry through the CARES Act.”
Walsh said the industry has seen a “massive move” toward greater regulation in Europe, and that has also been seen under President Joe Biden’s administration.
“I think that was driven by generating headlines for people with political ambition,” he said. “So I think we see that change. So I look at several positives, clearly the oil prices responded positively as well…I think we have to look at this as a positive opportunity.”
Walsh said that the industry has “never” had certainty.
“Look at our industry, I’m 45 years in the industry now. We’ve always had uncertainty. We’ve probably had more geopolitical uncertainty in the past five years than I’ve witnessed in the previous 40 years,” he shared. “But you know, our industry is very resilient and we’re capable of operating in an environment where we have that uncertainty.”
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