It should honestly be a disqualifying demonstration of bad decision making.
You can either put in a lot of effort straight away (saving time and effort later), or delay the inevitable, pay quite a large sum in transport costs every day, and have to do infinite airport runs?..
Choosing the latter shows he shouldn’t have the job.
Honestly it shows a lack of commitment. By refusing to relocate it shows he’s not planning on staying.
Come in, axe some heads, “streamline” and “cost cut” whilst gutting indispensable roles that have invisible contribution. Stock gets attention, lines goes up, he gets his bonus payout; it’s a classic CEO shuffle pump and dump.
Or maybe he’s their agreed scapegoat for their increasing union busting. Either way, he clearly has no plans to stay with the company long term.