A new private jet partnership will allow seamless connections with Delta itineraries; a new class of premium airport lounges is coming; NDCs are on the way, but not right now; and sustainability is a key long-term goal.
Those are the takeaways from Steve Sear, Delta Airlines EVP of global sales and distribution, at the opening session of the Global Travel Collection’s Elevate conference in New York today.
Chatting with Internova Travel Group’s EVP of partner relations Peter Vlitas, Sear promised that Delta’s investment in Wheels Up private jets will allow customers to get off a Delta flight and onto a jet in a partnership that delivers 100% on-time performance. “Operational excellence is going to be the foundation,” he promised. “It has to be 100%—they expect that jet to be there, to know the tail number. It has to work every time.”
Premium customers also soon will get a new kind of airport lounge, curated like the lounge in Charles de Gaulle in Paris, with a full dining experience. The first is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in Q3 2024, then in New York, Atlanta, Seattle and Detroit. “We learned from Virgin that sky clubs are important,” Sear said. “People see it as an experience.” Delta has opened nine new lounges in the past 15 months, adding 5,000 seats, and is enlarging others, including those in all eight of its hubs.
With the complexities of NDC plans, meanwhile, Delta’s first priority is to do no harm to the travel advisor. “For us, NDC is a small subset in our distribution strategy; we want to be where the customers want to engage Delta, and our commitment is to be best in class in every one of those channels,” he said. “We believe the change to NDC is inevitable and we are committed to that, but in an evolutionary way, not a revolutionary way; we are going to do it right, and make it as simple as possible.”
Also in the Delta game plan is a focus on sustainability. “We can’t be a dirty industry, that’s just not going to be a long-term viable situation so we are all 100% committed.” Delta has gone plastic-free on its planes except for coffee cups and is electrifying all ground service.
