- Delta Air Lines keynote at CES 2025 was an immersive spectacle
- The airline announced partnerships with YouTube, Airbus and Uber
- A new generative AI assistant called ‘Concierge’ could make air travel easier
There have been many keynotes this week at CES 2025, but by far the most impressive and simply the coolest was the one I attended last night, January 7th at Sphere. Delta Air Lines presented a keynote that had a lot of fuss and dazzle, but also made excellent use of space; I mean, there’s nothing like a tech demo, even a pre-recorded one, on a big screen.
Furthermore, however, it seems as if Delta Air Lines is laying a new foundation and between a new generative AI assistant ‘Concierge’ and the confirmed electric vertical take-off aircraft arriving in the coming years with many partnerships, there was certainly a lot of ground. to cover.
CEO Ed Bastian led the keynote quite well, talking about the airline’s history, core values and foundation for future innovation, and it was all accompanied by bold sound, lots of wind, courtesy of a long row of fans, and the big screen.
So, let’s review the three most impressive things that Delta Air Lines announced and teased in its Consumer Electronics Show 2025 keynote.
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1. The ‘concierge’ could make traveling much easier and more enjoyable
Like every other company at CES, Delta is also joining the AI bandwagon. However, this one has the potential to be useful and it will be a level playing field regardless of where you are sitting on the plane – Delta One and standard economy are the same here.
The Delta ‘Concierge’ is a personalized assistant, so they’ll know your itinerary, where you live, and previous flights. From there, you can suggest things like scheduling an Uber to get you to the airport on time and guide you through the terminal, which could have dropped you closer to the best security lane for expedited processing if you have TSA Precheck or Clear. But conversely, if you’re checking a bag, you can adjust your route for that.
Because it can interact with other applications, the LLM is multimodal and possible partnerships in the future could expand it. In a teaser video, through the seatback screen, a customer could confirm a dining reservation and preview a suggested new route that could get them from the airport to their hotel faster.
It’s really about making more data accessible in one place and increasing the overall Delta experience, something employees are very passionate about; ask me or my colleague Lance as we sat next to the cheerful group, and ultimately make travel more accessible. a little more convenient overall.
Now, like Apple Intelligence, Concierge will be a staggered release, so we can expect the first features to arrive sometime in 2025.
2. YouTube will arrive in full flight along with 4K screens and better Wi-Fi
Delta Air Lines’ seatback experience is called ‘Delta Sync’ and will get a host of new features. But what received recognition – and a stage debut for Sphere – was a partnership with YouTube.
If you’re enrolled in Skymiles, Delta’s free membership program, you’ll unlock ad-free YouTube content, from videos to music and podcasts, on the Delta Sync screen at your seat.
Judging by the teaser photos, it looks like YouTube videos could appear in line with the existing content library, while there will be a widget for YouTube Music. Additionally, Skymiles members will be eligible for a free trial of YouTube Premium; This way, they will be able to experience ad-free content on the ground or at 30,000 feet.
It doesn’t appear on stage, but is written about in a later press release, it is a promised improvement to Wi-Fi. Delta has already been offering free Wi-Fi for Skymiles members, but thanks to an already announced switch to provider Hughes for some planes, you can expect more stable connections in the future. This comes shortly after United Airlines announced that it is accelerating the planned launch of Starlink across its fleet.
Perhaps even more important, however, is the arrival of 4K HDR QLED displays in some seat backs. If you’re like me and enjoy a window seat, this could allow you to get rich, clear views even when the sun is shining. There will also be an exclusive new show focused on well-being while traveling, hosted by Tom Brady and called “Well Traveled.” .”
3. A look at the future of aviation
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Probably my favorite moment was how Delta used the Sphere screen; For example, as you can see on TikTok, we witnessed and felt the air of an Airbus A350 taxiing towards us on a runway and then parking with its nose almost touching people. left end of the Sphere. There was a thud in the seats, a loud roar of the jet engines, and wind… yes, wind blowing toward us.
And while that’s a look at our current plane today, potentially even the one some CES attendees arrived on, we got a peak ahead. Delta Air Lines is partnering with Airbus on innovation labs to help imagine future aircraft, including those that could eventually run on 100% sustainable fuel.
Right now, some planes can fly with a 50/50 mix of this, but even more interesting, the two companies are working on planes with folding wings. So, like a bird in the sky, a future Delta plane could change the shape or orientation of its wings to improve aerodynamics.
Even more innovative, and likely arriving sooner, is the Joby electric plane, which is capable of taking off or landing vertically. This means it could take off or descend more like a helicopter rather than needing a long asphalt or concrete runway.
CEO Ed Bastian said on stage that they would come in the next few years, first to Los Angeles and New York City; We even saw how the concierge could call a Joby to make sure he got to the airport on time. It was incredible to see the Sphere’s 160,000-square-foot wraparound screen transform into the cockpit of a futuristic airplane, but also the shots of it flying over beautiful backdrops.
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Overall, Delta Air Lines took the opportunity of its 2025 Consumer Electronics Show keynote to impress visually and audibly with a Lenny Kravitz set after a grand finale of digital fireworks that, believe me, were just as cool as the real thing. thing, but they also aim to improve the customer experience by using new technology to hopefully create meaningful experiences, some of which will arrive in the coming months of 2025.
I’m looking forward to trying the ‘Concierge’ generative AI experience as it will probably get better over time, but I’ll do anything to speed it up and make air travel a little easier.
@PakGazette ♬ original sound – TechRadar
