I don't want to be the CEO. The CEO is an at will employee of the BOD, although to be fair in the industry they generally do get amazing parachutes regardless of the circumstances of their departures. Pilots at DL (and UAL and many other airlines) have contracts that bind the airline (and its code) to them far more securely than any executive enjoys. If an airline wants to change their CEO they can do so on a daily basis. If DL, UAL, SWA, etc, even their CEO, wants to deploy the airline's code, he or she may only do so IAW their pilot's contract. Not every pilot group owns their code though. Some aren't even unionized at all, and a few others that are don't have adequate protections in their CBA to own and control it. Good thing DL and many others do.