Elon Musk has escalated his ongoing feud with Delta Air Lines, saying CEO Ed Bastian will “lose his job” after unverified remarks surfaced claiming the airline deliberately avoided working with Musk and SpaceX’s Starlink.
The latest exchange started after aviation account JonNYC shared comments reportedly made by Bastian at Delta company events. According to the post, Bastian allegedly said, “We do not want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me.”
JonNYC also reported that Bastian had discussed Delta testing Starlink at an earlier event, allegedly adding, “If you know his reputation, it’s all true what they say about him.”
However, there is an important caveat. JonNYC said the comments were passed to him secondhand and specifically noted that he did “NOT know if the quotes within the quotes below are accurate.” Delta has not confirmed or denied the reported remarks.
Musk nevertheless responded Tuesday night. Replying to a post about the comments, the SpaceX CEO wrote, “He will lose his job over this”.
A few hours later Musk took another shot at Delta’s connectivity, writing, “Best way to sandbox an AI is to put it on a Delta flight – it will have no chance of accessing the Internet!”
The dispute stretches back to Delta’s decision earlier this year to select Amazon Leo for in-flight Wi-Fi on 500 aircraft, with installations scheduled to begin in 2028.
Musk criticized that decision in May, claiming Delta wanted to make accessing Wi-Fi “painful, difficult and expensive” for passengers. Delta pushed back at the time, saying, “The assertion in question is not accurate.”
Bastian later told Bloomberg that Amazon offered “a lot more than just satellite technology,” along with “a much lower price point than what we’ve ever seen from Starlink.”
Meanwhile, Starlink continues expanding with Delta’s competitors. American Airlines selected Starlink for more than 500 aircraft earlier this year, while United has been installing the service across its fleet.
Always get the latest - make Drive Tesla your preferred source on Google
Are you buying a Tesla? If you enjoy our content and we helped in your decision, use our referral link to get three months of Full Self-Driving (FSD).Drive Tesla uses affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
