Delta's CEO Ed Bastian on Tuesday called the idea announced by the Biden administration to possibly require a negative COVID-19 test to fly within the U.S. "a horrible idea," during an interview on CNN saying, that it would be a "logistical nightmare."
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday that the Biden administration has floated the idea of a COVID-19 testing requirement for air travel within the United States.
Buttigieg told Axios on HBO, "There's an active conversation with the CDC right now," going on to say, "What I can tell you is, it's going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people who are actually going to have to carry this out."
During an interview on CNN, Buttigieg said, "CDC is looking at all its options."
As CNN reported, Delta has remained the only domestic airline to block middle seats on flights to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, costing the airline a considerable amount of profits compared to previous years.
Bastian said that revenues for Delta have actually remained high during the pandemic despite blocking these seats.
Bastian said that incidents of the spread of COVID-19 on any Delta flight has been "absolutely minimal" globally and domestically. Delta's CEO went on to say that the Biden administration idea for testing that is being floated between the White House and the CEO would "set not just the transpiration and travel industry back, but the whole hospitality sector, the hotels, it would set us back at least probably another year."
