Delta Air Lines has unveiled a suite of technology-led advances at CES 2025, the annual global showcase for innovation in consumer electronics held in Las Vegas. Marking its 100th anniversary, the USA’s oldest operating airline celebrated with the announcement of new partnerships and future travel concepts amid a party atmosphere provided by a Lenny Kravitz performance.
“New marvels like AI, the digital revolution and sustainable technology are giving us incredible tools to transform the travel experience,” said CEO Ed Bastian, introducing a new customer-feedback-led app called Delta Concierge.
What is Delta Concierge?
Delta Concierge is built into the Fly Delta app and is a digital tool that uses generative AI to create what the carrier calls “seamless and personalized moments while making a customer’s journey easier – almost like a personal assistant.”
The “always-on” helper offers personalized, contextual “insights and experiences” to connect customers to their journey “more meaningfully at every step”, a press release says. From helping you make your flight thanks to ordering a flying cab, to ensuring you understand vital seatback announcements, the app covers a whole range of wants and needs.
Through the app, connected seatback announcements can be tailored by language and for customers with special needs, and customers can receive and interact with evolving journey information, as well as making the most of new partnerships with Uber, and advancements made with electric air-taxi firm Joby. With a journey planner too, the Concierge is claimed to pave the way for the ‘multi-modal’ travel future.
In-flight betting, expanded content, and new hardware too
Tech is also revolutionising the customer experience when it comes to in-flight entertainment. Further new partnerships, this time with sports gambling firm Draft Kings and streaming giant YouTube are part of what the airline promises will be “a groundbreaking cloud-based in-flight entertainment system.”
The new platform “builds on the personalized Delta Sync experience that was launched in 2023 for SkyMiles Members,” Delta explained. Members can now enjoy expanded content offerings and collaborations with known brands, favourite creators, podcasts and music artists – all ad-free.
And the cutting-edge tech is not limited to the digital realm. New hardware too will mean the Delta Sync seatback has an intelligent 4K HDR QLED display, as well as benefitting from a 96-terabyte storage system for even more high-quality content and streaming experiences, among other new features.
Changing customer expectations
The innovations are prompted by changing customer demands, said Ranjan Goswami, Delta Senior Vice President for Customer Experience Design, as the airline that started as a crop-dusting operation in rural Georgia moves into its second century.
“As technology evolves, our customers expect their travel experience to adapt and evolve with them. They want it to be intuitive, contextual and seamless in a way that supports and guides them so that they can move through life with confidence. To stay ahead of those expectations, Delta is committed to continuously evolving our industry-leading digital experiences across channels to ensure the sky is never the limit – it’s only the beginning,” Goswami explained.
