A fiery crash landing earlier this year involving a Delta Air Lines aircraft in Toronto has reignited national debate over aviation safety and executive accountability, raising questions about whether profits are being prioritized over passenger protection.
The Feb. 17 crash involved a Delta CRJ900 operated by its wholly owned subsidiary Endeavor Air. The aircraft careened off the runway during a snowstorm at Toronto Pearson Airport. During the emergency landing, a fractured landing gear caused the right wing to break off, flipping the plane upside down. This rupture released 6,000 pounds of jet fuel, sparking a fire and explosion.
All 80 people on board and the crew survived, though 21 were injured, two seriously. According to a preliminary report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), the plane was descending too quickly in heavy winds, though investigators have not yet determined what caused the crash or broken landing gear. A final report from TSB is expected in 2026.
And this isn’t the beginning. Since January, Delta has faced a string of safety incidents, ranging from engine failures and smoke in cockpits to cabin pressure loss mid-flight. AeroInside SafetyScan Pro, which compiles aviation accident data, disclosed this month that Delta has faced numerous incidents this year alone — including three serious engine-related emergencies in April.
However, even as the safety concerns mount, Delta’s top executive continues to earn big money. CEO Ed Bastian reportedly received $34.2 million in total compensation in 2023 — making him the highest-paid airline executive in the industry — despite a 39 percent drop in Delta’s shareholder value.
His pay package, critics say, is entirely tied to financial performance and customer service metrics like on-time arrivals and baggage handling, with no link to safety.
“This is a game of Russian Roulette every time you step on a plane,” said Karlene Petitt, a retired Delta captain and aviation safety expert. “Unless airline executives are held accountable for passenger safety, nothing will change.”
Petitt, who spent decades flying for Delta, filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit on Monday, alleging the airline retaliated against her for raising safety concerns in the wake of the Toronto crash. She claims Delta threatened her with a frivolous defamation suit just days after she submitted a formal safety complaint to Delta and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), identifying subpar pilot training as a key factor in the crash.
“This was not an ‘if,’ but a ‘when,’” Petitt wrote in her complaint, asserting that inadequate training led to the pilots’ failure to execute a safe landing.
In her lawsuit, Petitt is seeking compensatory damages and has asked the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to preserve key evidence, including the cockpit voice recorder and pilot training records, from the Endeavor crash in Toronto.
Since 2022, Petitt’s data show Delta has recorded 170 incidents and 12 accidents, with its subsidiary Endeavor Air experiencing 14 incidents and three accidents in that same period.
Ongoing debate
While Petitt and other safety experts are calling for Congress and regulators to act, opinions remain divided on how far the federal government should go — especially when it comes to reining in executive pay.
Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, said it shouldn’t be the government’s job to get involved in regulating an airline CEO’s pay package based on safety. That’s the job of the company’s board and shareholders, he told Financial Regulation News this week.
“Your job is to run a safe, profitable airline. If you can’t, someone else should,” said Elson. “It’s not necessarily a “salary issue;” it’s a performance issue — and it’s up to the board and shareholders to make that call.”
Still, others argue that corporate boards have failed to hold executives accountable — and it’s time for the federal government to intervene.
“The best solution for Congress is to open the door to personal liability of all executives, in that anyone harmed can personally sue the executives in addition to the airline,” Petitt suggested. “With personal liability, executives may focus more on mitigating their personal risk. As it is now, they are increasing passenger risk for their profit, despite the law saying they should reduce it.”
Experts point to Boeing’s recent overhaul of its executive compensation plan as a potential model. After a high-profile safety incident in January, Boeing now ties 60 percent of annual bonuses for its commercial unit employees to safety and quality, rather than financial targets.
Alaska Airlines also includes safety as a component of executive pay and maintains a dedicated Safety Committee on its board.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Petitt argues, should mandate that provisions similar to Boeing and Alaska Air be enacted across the industry, including for CEO pay packages.
“Anyone who knowingly places anyone in harm’s way should have harsh sanctions,” she said.
Delta’s exclusion from AirlineRatings.com’s 2025 list of the world’s 25 safest airlines adds to the concern. The airline scored just 5.7 out of 10 for passenger safety.
To fix what she sees as systemic regulatory and corporate complacency, Petitt is calling for sweeping reforms: increasing mandatory pilot retirement age to 67; prohibiting new hire pilots from flying as captain for a minimum one year; mandating that pilots are trained to “competency” not the current minimal “proficiency;” create one central safety reporting system within the FAA that all airlines submit reports to; prohibit any airline executives from becoming an FAA administrator; and changing federal law to enforce punitive damages against airlines retaliating against whistleblowers, among others.
“In that airline executives’ excessive salaries are based upon profitability of the company and that profitability is at the sacrifice of passenger safety, then their pay should be reduced in relation to accidents and incidents,” Petitt said.
Elson pointed out that safety and a successful airline go hand in hand.
“The CEO of an airline’s first responsibility is the profitable airline,” he said. “But that includes safety and the two work together.”
And while some corporate boards separate the two and may give bonuses to CEOs for safety, Elson doesn’t think it works that way.
“Safety is something that brings business. It’s not something that’s divorced separate from your enterprise,” he said. “Safety and a successful airline go hand in hand. I think you either are safe or you’re not. If you’re not safe, you get terminated.”