Delta Strives to Achieve a More Sustainable Future during Earth Month

There are several ways Delta is moving closer to net zero and involving its customers and employees in the process, both during and after Earth Month. 

Delta is working year-round to improve the sustainability of travel by achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The company is concentrating on three key areas: what we fly, how we fly, and how much fuel we use. In order to completely decarbonise its operations and the industry, Delta is also focusing on long-term solutions. 

Teams at Delta will commemorate Earth Month this month with a range of activities and events that bring the company's workforce together with its audacious plan for a more environmentally friendly travel industry. 

The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) and GREEN UP, Delta's sustainability-focused business resource group, are collaborating to organise an Atlanta-based corporate recycling challenge throughout April. Last year, Delta won the competition for the most recycled materials. 

Delta will also be promoting sustainability through its social media channels by featuring a new Employee Travel Guide highlighting a Delta employee’s first-hand recommendations for travelling more sustainably and more sustainable travel experiences.

Delta outlined some short, medium, and long-term goals last year to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Some of the goals for this year include embedding sustainability across the business, driving fuel savings, scaling SAF, modifying the existing fleet, and reducing single-use plastics in flight.

To involve every employee and coordinate efforts toward achieving Delta's sustainability goals, the airline created new operational sustainability KPIs. Important indicators such as the average 65-minute APU run-time between flights are included in this. A system-wide run-time decrease of just one minute might result in annual fuel savings of about 1.2 million gallons. Additionally, it involves achieving weight efficiency by carefully modifying the on-board service weight.

Teams at Delta have worked together to maximise impact through weight reduction, improved landing techniques, and speed and routing efficiencies. The Delta Carbon Council intends to increase last year’s fuel savings by over 20 million gallons this year.

Delta is contributing to the push for laws that will boost SAF production among federal, state, and local partners. This year, Delta is particularly promoting SAF incentive programs in Michigan and New York and supporting the Minnesota SAF Hub, which is tasked with growing the SAF sector in Minnesota, Delta's hub state.

Delta will complete the upgrades to the split-scimitar winglet on the 737-800 aircraft in 2024 and 2025. At this point, Delta will have fully integrated the most cutting-edge winglet technology into all of its current, modifiable fleets. 

In December 2023, Delta started testing the switch to paper cups for transcontinental travel. If successful, this move would eliminate almost 7 million pounds of single-use plastics from aircraft each year and move the airline closer to its goal of reducing single-use plastics by 2025. By the end of 2024, the paper cups would start to be distributed throughout the Delta network, based on the testing's outcomes.

Delta’s goals for the future also include having five strategic partnerships with revolutionary tech players by 2025 which was kicked off by its investment in Joby Aviation, a company pioneering home-to-airport transportation with its eVTOL aircraft. Delta has also partnered with Airbus in their ZEROe program, which is working toward the world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft.

“Sustainability is a business imperative at Delta, and while Earth Month is a moment in time to galvanise around sustainability efforts, Delta works year-round to set the company up for a more sustainable future of flight,” shared Amelia DeLuca, the CSO of Delta Air Lines. “I am so inspired by the people at Delta who work every day to help make a better, more sustainable Delta for futures to come.”

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