Delta CEO on Losing Tax Break: 'Our Values Are Not for Sale'

To punish Delta Air Lines for dropping its discount for NRA members, Georgia lawmakers killed a tax cut on jet fuel that could have saved Delta up to $40 million. But the air line is sticking to its guns, Business Insider reports. "Our decision was not made for economic gain and our values are not for sale," CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement Friday. Delta is also standing by Georgia. “None of this changes the fact that our home is Atlanta and we are proud and honored to locate our headquarters here," Bastian said. He said Delta isn't taking a side in the gun-control debate; rather it's trying to remove itself from the debate entirely. Bastian said the discount for NRA members could have been seen as Delta "implicitly endorsing the NRA."

As for that discount: CNN reports it was a one-time offer to NRA members attending the group's annual convention in May. And Delta says only 13 people had taken advantage of it before it was ended. Delta says it will also look to discontinue discounts "for any group of a politically divisive nature." The airline isn't revealing how may discount programs it offers, according to USA Today. (More Delta Air Lines stories.)