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Passengers on the Delta Air Lines Minneapolis flight that crashed and overturned during its landing in Toronto on Monday, February 17, are now being offered $30,000 each by the company. As per CBS News’ February 19 report, the company's spokesperson stated that the Care Team has informed the travelers that "this gesture has no strings attached and does not affect rights."
The company, run by Ed Bastian, would have to pay a total of over $2.3 million if all 76 passengers accepted the offer. Nevertheless, it is not yet known how the travelers would withdraw the money.
Edward Herman Bastian is an American businessman. He is the 9th and the current CEO of Delta Air Lines, having taken up the role since May 2, 2016. Before that, Bastian had also left the company in 2005 to become the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Acuity Brands.
However, at the invitation of Gerald Grinstein, the then-CEO of the airlines, he returned six months later as chief financial officer. His tenure as president began in 2007, and he held that position until May 2016, when he became the CEO.
Delta Air Lines' CEO Edward Bastian’s professional life started in 1979
Ed was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from St. Bonaventure University. Initially, Bastian interned in PwC's New York office in 1979 after graduating from the university.
He joined the company as an audit partner and discovered a $50 million fraud scam involving ad giant J. Walter Thompson during an annual inspection in 1981. A few years later, at age 31, Bastian was promoted to partner.
As per his LinkedIn profile, he is:
"A 25-year Delta veteran, I now have the honor of serving the world’s most reliable, customer-focused airline as CEO. While I’ve held many roles since joining Delta in 1998, my most important one has been to take care of our people, so that they can continue to take great care of our customers..."
Meanwhile, after leaving PwC and prior to joining Delta Air Lines as vice president of finance and controller, he was the vice president of Worldwide Finances for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay snack. He was then promoted to the position of senior vice president, finance and controller in 2000.
With numerous accolades during his time as CEO, Delta has emerged as America's most prestigious airline. The company became the Wall Street Journal's top U.S. airline, Air Transport World's Airline of the Year, and Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies.
It further received Cirium's Platinum Award for operational excellence, and entered Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies list.
Ed was also selected as one of The World's 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune in 2018, and was elected to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2019.
He was further recognized as one of the Top 10 CEOs of 2021 by Glassdoor's Employees' Choice Awards. He received an award for his Executive Leadership in FlightGlobal's 2021 Airline Strategy Awards in 2021 for his exceptional support of his team.
In addition to being selected as the 2024 Georgian of the Year, Ed was most recently recognized by his fellow CEOs and named the 2023 Chief Executive of the Year by Chief Executive magazine.
Additionally, as a Delta leader, he guided the business through some of its most trying times, including 9/11, bankruptcy, and COVID-19.
Furthermore, the Atlanta Business Chronicle also named Bastian one of Atlanta's Most Admired CEOs in 2017.
On the other hand, at around 2:15 p.m. on Monday, February 17, Delta Flight 4819, traveling from Minneapolis to Toronto Pearson International Airport, exploded in flames as it touched down and overturned on the runway.
When the flaming CRJ-900 came to a halt, four crew members and 76 passengers were left hanging from their seat belts. Everyone on board made it out of the catastrophic crash alive.
Twenty of the twenty-one passengers who were sent to nearby hospitals had been released as of Wednesday morning, February 19.
