President Trump says Delta Air Lines might “finally be embracing MAGA” after a pilot at the Atlanta-based carrier shared an internal memo with the White House that showed Delta was banning two ‘woke’ references in its operations manuals.
In a document titled Revision Highlights Airway Manual, Delta has told pilots that it is finally accepting that, in the United States at least, the Gulf of Mexico is now called the Gulf of America.
The name change was one of the first acts Trump made when he was sworn in as President in January, signing an executive order in the Oval Office that meant the 1.55 million square kilometer body of water located off the southeastern coast of North America would be known as the Gulf of America.
Internationally, it’s important to note that the name for this body of water is still known as the Gulf of Mexico and, outside of the US, there are no plans to recognize Trump’s renaming.
But that’s not the only name change that Delta has accepted. The same document also states that the carrier will once again refer to federal aviation safety notices called NOTAMS as ‘Notices to Airmen’ rather than the more politically correct and gender-neutral ‘Notices to Air Missions.’
The name Notices to Airmen has been around for decades, but in 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under the Biden administration adopted a recommendation from an external committee that suggested adopting a gender neutral name.
The idea behind the change was to challenge the long-held stereotype that women can’t or shouldn’t be pilots. At the same time, the term ‘cockpit’ fell out of fashion due to its obvious connotations, and some airlines and government agencies started referring to it as the ‘flight deck.’
In February, the FAA announced that it was changing back the meaning of NOTAM to Notices to Airmen. The agency did not provide an explanation for the reversal, but Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have made no secret of the fact that they believe the Biden administration put DEI and equality initiatives over aviation safety.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote:
“From a Delta Captain: ‘I thought you would get a kick out of this. Delta’s official memo to employees. Big changes Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. And the liberals thought Notice to Airman was racist to they changed it to Notice to Air Missions. Delta just changed it back to Notice to Airman. I think they are finally embracing MAGA.”
There remains debate over whether Americans support the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, with one poll from the Marquette Law School finding that 71% of Americans opposed the name change.
A second poll by Reuters/Ipsos had a similar response, with 70% opposing the change and only 25% supporting the renaming.
From an aviation perspective, referencing the Gulf of America could pose problems as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) still calls it the Gulf of Mexico, much like the rest of the world.
In October 2020, Delta became the first airline in the United States to ban the use of the phrase ‘ladies and gentlemen’ in its onboard announcements, instead adopting gender-neutral terms like “hello everyone.”
At the time, the airline said the change was about making Delta “an even more inclusive airline”.
“Promoting inclusion throughout the travel journey is core to creating a safe, comfortable, and respectful space for all of our customers and employees,” a spokesperson added.
“Didn’t Earn It”. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, officially prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It CLEARLY outlaws segregation in public places and facilities, such as restaurants, theaters, and schools, and also made employment discrimination illegal. If that is the case, someone explain why DEI needed to be “awokened” in the first place? Enforce the law as it is written. George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm” perfectly describes DEI. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. One only has to look at hiring by corporations AND the government who ignore the rule of law (Civil Rights Act), regardless of political persuasion, and hire people BASED on what is clearly against the law. The liberals will jump on this but one only has to look at the Biden administration which, in the words of the President himself, would appoint a woman of color to the Supreme Court Of The United States. Isn’t that a clear violation of the Civil Rights Act? Is this person qualified because of the curriculum viate or because of DEI? When one looks at that appointment, that person was clearly a fish out of water when it comes to being a Justice. This isn’t absolving other political entities because they are equally guilty. However, DEI clearly shows a pervasive way to ignore “meritocracy”.