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DeltaEarnings

‘I drive a Tesla’: After Elon Musk said he’d lose his job, Delta CEO Ed Bastian says there’s ‘no tit for tat’ as airline unveils earnings miss

Source: Autobound Signal API · 97 signals tracked for Delta · updated

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What happened

Delta Air Lines posted a pre-tax profit of $1.5 billion for the September quarter.

Source

Article excerpt

Highlighted: the sentence this signal was extracted from

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he isn't feuding with Elon Musk, even after the SpaceX founder predicted he would lose his job. "There's no tit for tat as far as I'm concerned," Bastian told CNBC's Phil LeBeau on Squawk Box on Friday, when asked whether he passed on SpaceX's Starlink Wi-Fi because he didn't 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 Musk's post that he would lose his job, Bastian said, "I don't pay any attention." The interview came as Delta missed Wall Street earnings estimates for the first time in two years and cut its 2026 profit forecast. Jet fuel prices have surged since the Iran war started in February, and as a result, Delta's adjusted fuel expense rose 62% from a year earlier to $4.1 billion in the September quarter. Still, Delta posted record September-quarter revenue of $17.6 billion, up 16%, and a pre-tax profit of $1.5 billion, matching last year. Premium ticket revenue rose 18% to $6.8 billion, and loyalty revenue grew 18%, putting American Express payments on track to exceed $9 billion for the year. Delta expects December-quarter revenue to grow about 20%, and full-year earnings of $5.10 to $5.60 per share, along with a $6...

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Extracted by Autobound

From the Signal API record
Event
Earnings

What this signalsEarnings results often set the next budget cycle.

Amount named
$1.5B

The full record

From the Signal API record

Numbers

Amount named in the story
$1.5B

Extraction

Confidence
95%
Detected
Oct 9, 2026
signal_type
news
signal_subtype
has_earnings

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The API returns more than this page shows

This page shows a preview. The full news record in the Signal API and MCP can also have these 8 fields. Some fields are empty for some signals.

Company

  • linkedin_urlValue in the API
  • industriesValue in the API
  • employee_count_lowValue in the API
  • employee_count_highValue in the API
  • revenueValue in the API
  • descriptionValue in the API

Signal

  • signal_nameValue in the API
  • associationValue in the API
Show the full JSONThe record on this page and the API request

GET /v1/signals/0fea0afb-59c0-a8ce-597c-fda30b4089a9 returns this record as JSON. POST /v1/companies/enrich returns every signal for delta.com.

{
  "signal_id": "0fea0afb-59c0-a8ce-597c-fda30b4089a9",
  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "has_earnings",
  "detected_at": "2026-10-09T19:05:23+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Delta",
    "domain": "delta.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/10/09/delta-ed-bastian-elon-musk-q3-earnings-tit-for-tat-starlink/",
    "title": "‘I drive a Tesla’: After Elon Musk said he’d lose his job, Delta CEO Ed Bastian says there’s ‘no tit for tat’ as airline unveils earnings miss",
    "author": "Catherina Gioino",
    "excerpt": "Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he isn’t feuding with Elon Musk, even after the SpaceX founder predicted he would lose his job. “There’s no tit for tat as far as I’m concerned,” Bastian told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau on Squawk Box on Friday, when asked whether he passed on SpaceX’s Starlink Wi-Fi because he didn’t 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 Musk’s post that he would lose his job, Bastian said, “I don’t pay any attention.” The interview came as Delta missed Wall Street earnings estimates for the first time in two years and cut its 2026 profit forecast . Jet fuel prices have surged since the Iran war started in February, and as a result, Delta’s adjusted fuel expense rose 62% from a year earlier to $4.1 billion in the September quarter. Still, Delta posted record September-quarter revenue of $17.6 billion, up 16%, and a pre-tax profit of $1.5 billion, matching last year. Premium ticket revenue rose 18% to $6.8 billion, and loyalty revenue grew 18%, putting American Express payments on track to exceed $9 billion for the year. Delta expects December-quarter revenue to grow about 20%, and full-year earnings of $5.10 to $5.60 per share, along with a $6 billion...",
    "summary": "Delta Air Lines posted a pre-tax profit of $1.5 billion for the September quarter.",
    "planning": false,
    "image_url": "https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/GettyImages-2234065799-e1791569552201.jpg?resize=1200,600",
    "confidence": 0.95,
    "published_at": "2026-10-09T19:05:23Z",
    "article_sentence": "Still, Delta posted record September-quarter revenue of $17.6 billion, up 16%, and a pre-tax profit of $1.5 billion, matching last year.",
    "amount_normalized": 1500000000
  }
}

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