Advancing Progress Toward Our Goals

The following sections detail key initiatives and progress for each of the six core components of our sustainability strategy. Through these efforts, we continue to prioritize measures that embrace sustainable innovation to help reduce emissions and minimize environmental impacts throughout our operations while providing a positive business benefit.

Future Aircraft Innovation

In the future, we anticipate the availability of even more advanced aircraft technology with the potential to further support our net-zero ambitions. To explore and support the most promising advancements, Delta continually seeks to partner with researchers and disruptive innovators working at the leading edge of sustainable aviation.

Delta has partnered with Airbus on the ZEROe project, which aims to develop the first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft for market entry. In 2024, Delta worked with Airbus, Plug Power and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to explore the potential for implementing hydrogen as an alternative fuel source for future aircraft and ground equipment operations. As one of the world’s busiest airports, ATL offers a unique opportunity for Delta and its partners to better understand airport requirements and fleet expectations for the use of hydrogen fuel within an operational environment. With the study scheduled for completion by 2026, we hope to use the lessons learned to help facilitate the future use of green hydrogen at ATL and across the Delta network.

In 2024, Boeing continued progress toward building the X-66 demonstrator for its transonic truss-braced wing design. Work included the removal of engines from Delta-provided M90 aircraft, performing computational analysis of wing/truss structural and aero design, and performing extensive wind tunnel testing.

Delta is working to bring to market an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi home-to-seat (airport) service with our partners at Joby Aviation. As part of the first-of-its-kind arrangement, both companies will work together to integrate Joby-operated eVTOL service into Delta’s existing hub airports in New York and Los Angeles. This will further elevate and differentiate the Delta travel experience in these strategic markets with home-to-airport transportation for customers, providing an opportunity to reserve seats for short-range zero-operating-emissions journeys to and from city airports.

Using Less Jet Fuel in the Air

In 2024, Delta implemented three operational changes to increase fuel savings. We adopted a new engine wash program at five of our domestic service hubs and across eight engine fleets. The new wash solutions, developed by AeroCore, increases engine performance and reduces fuel consumption by using patented foam injection technology to remove harmful deposits and contaminants. We also collaborated with Boeing to certify a new, low-flaps landing procedure across our 717 fleet. Finally, Delta has adopted GE Fuel Insight, an application that combines full-flight aircraft data with flight plan and fuel information to enhance the identification of fuel-savings opportunities.

The Carbon Council also oversees efforts to reduce fuel use by optimizing aircraft weight. In 2022, Delta piloted a program utilizing automated data collection and artificial intelligence to track demand for different types of soda on board. Initially tested at a single hub, the detailed data from this study provided insight on which sodas were consumed in flight. With this information, we reduced the amount of certain types of sodas loaded on the plane, helping to reduce weight and fuel consumption, as well as associated costs. In 2024, we scaled the program to six of our hub airports with the goal of gaining more comprehensive insight and reducing service weight across a greater number of flights.

Together, these and other initiatives helped increase total operational fuel savings by 23 million gallons in 2024, for a total of 44 million gallons saved in 2024 and contributing to our goal of 1.1 billion gallons of cumulative fuel savings by 2035, compared to a 2019 baseline.

Delta continues to leverage a series of operational fuel key performance indicators (KPIs) to help reduce our fuel consumption and associated GHG emissions. These include metrics such as average auxiliary power unit (APU) runtime minutes, service weight per available seat mile and excess endurance fuel carried. Roughly 65% of all frontline employees’ work is assigned to a fuel KPI to help consolidate our fuel-efficiency efforts across the organization.

Using Less Jet Fuel on the Ground

Another way to drive fuel savings is by limiting the use of APUs during ground operations. We continue to work with airport partners to increase the installation of ground power units and preconditioned air (PCA) units at several of our hubs. In 2024, we introduced a total of 31 new PCA units across our network.

In an effort to further reduce ground fuel use, Delta has also introduced equipment telematics systems at over 90 gates in ATL to identify APU usage reduction opportunities. We deployed an APU Ambassador at our ATL, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) hubs to drive awareness of APU energy usage and identify potential reduction opportunities.

In 2024, Delta continued its partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to test TaxiBot®, a semi-robotic towing device designed to reduce unnecessary fuel burn during taxiing, at JFK.

SAF Procurement

Delta continues to increase SAF usage year over year, achieving a total uplift of over 13 million gallons in 2024, more than three times the SAF uplifted in 2023, for a total of 19 million gallons uplifted since 2021. We’ve partnered with industry-leading producers such as Shell, Neste and Valero to achieve this growth despite a limited global supply of SAF.

For the 2030 long-term target, Delta’s SAF procurement strategy focuses on diversifying both the range of technologies and the producers in our portfolio. While we have contracted millions of gallons toward this goal, we recognize the SAF technology and development landscape is nascent, and some significant portion may not be delivered. We believe our procurement strategy is a winning approach and continuously engage across the producer and investor ecosystem to identify and evaluate offtake opportunities to manage the inherent risks in this nascent industry.

At the end of 2024, we launched an offtake evaluation process and received responses from over 30 producers across technology pathways. We are actively considering additional offtake opportunities to further diversify our future supply mix and manage the financing and manufacturing risk.

SAF Market Engagement and Advocacy

As part of our commitment to transparent climate policy leadership, we engage in state, federal and international SAF policy advocacy to help implement initiatives that accelerate SAF development. Within the U.S., Delta has advocated for the bipartisan support for the SAF market and proposed new SAF tax incentives within our hub states of Michigan, New York and Massachusetts. At an international level, Delta is engaged in partnerships with various trade associations to scale the global SAF market and enable us to reach our net-zero goal by 2050. To learn more about our SAF advocacy, which underpins our business and climate objectives, please see our Climate Lobbying section.

Scaling SAF Production and Development

Delta continues to support and expand important partnerships and coalitions across industries to help scale the SAF market. In 2023, we introduced the Minnesota SAF Hub, a first-of-its-kind coalition leveraging collaboration across the value chain to scale SAF at MSP and support economic development in the state.

Since launching, Delta and the Minnesota SAF Hub have worked with cross-industry collaborators to pioneer solutions that increase the availability of SAF. In 2024, this work enabled the completion of four major milestones on our journey to develop a fully integrated SAF supply chain in Minnesota.

First, Delta and Flint Hills Resources announced plans to develop a facility to blend up to 30 million gallons of neat SAF. The blending facility, one of only three in the United States, is expected to be completed in late 2025 and will deliver SAF, when fully operational into MSP — our second largest hub. This capability development is being led in collaboration with Shell and Montana Renewables.

Second, Delta announced the formation of the Minnesota Demand Consortium to aggregate a strong demand signal to support cost-competitive SAF and further scaling of production. To build this demand, Delta has partnered with Bank of America, Deloitte and Ecolab, and is actively engaging additional participants.

Third, Delta and the Minnesota SAF Hub collaborated with Cargill, Shell, Montana Renewables, the University of Minnesota and others to produce the first batch of SAF made using Minnesota-grown winter camelina seed — a novel vegetable oil that has the potential to unlock additional feedstock and agricultural opportunities.

Lastly, the SAF derived from Minnesota camelina seed was delivered to MSP and Detroit Metropolitan Airport, marking the first time in aviation history either airport has received SAF.

Delta is committed to capitalizing on the momentum achieved through its coalition efforts and will continue to leverage this cross-industry collaboration to support investor confidence in projects and enable the advancement of SAF technologies and scale.

Working Together With Americans for Clean Aviation Fuels

Since 2023, Delta has taken part in Americans for Clean Aviation Fuelsopens in a new window, the first national collaboration of the largest economic actors in the U.S. economy - from farmers to fuel producers and aviation to agribusiness - to promote the economic benefits of clean aviation fuels. By promoting the benefits of a robust market for SAF and sustainable alternatives to conventional jet fuel, Delta is helping to drive a national effort to advance policies that power economic and energy security for future generations. For more information, see our Climate Lobbying Report.

Ground Support Equipment

Ground support equipment (GSE) such as tow tractors and belt loaders are traditionally reliant on diesel and other fossil fuels, contributing to GHG emissions and other pollutants. Where feasible, we have made steady progress toward shifting to electric and other alternative-fuel-powered GSE.

We plan to continue reducing GHG emissions from GSE by replacing our core fleets with eGSE and expanding the use of renewable diesel throughout our operations. Focusing our electrification strategy on equipment with the highest utilization rates, which contributes a significant portion of our total GSE emissions, allows us to optimize the effectiveness of electric units. And using renewable diesel in existing equipment allows for immediate carbon reductions at a lower cost. Additionally, Delta is reducing non-GHG emissions through new engine technology and equipment retirement, where electrification isn’t cost effective or feasible.

Campus Greening

We also seek to minimize the environmental impacts of our corporate facilities. Delta’s 1940s headquarters are the oldest surviving buildings of the Atlanta airport and were designated a Historic Aerospace Site in 2011. In 2024, we signed contracts to install a total nameplate capacity of 3.7 megawatts of rooftop solar across our Atlanta campus buildings, set to be complete in 2025. Once fully operational, this solar project is expected to produce 5.1 gigawatt hours of electricity at Delta’s Atlanta General Office (G.O.) headquarters and will reduce associated electricity costs for Delta.

Other campus greening initiatives this year included installing 70 additional electric vehicle charging stations on Delta’s G.O. and TechOps campuses, bringing the total number to more than 133 across all of Delta’s campuses. To increase our recycling and landfill diversion rates, we have rolled out a centralized waste program that utilizes the three-bin system to segregate waste collection by recyclable, compostable and general waste materials. The program also utilizes containers made of recycled plastic and upcycled wood from used shipping crates.

Energy Consumption in Our Facilities

We continue to build upon our commitment to reduce energy-related GHG emissions across all ground operations and facilities, including both owned and leased properties. Since 2022, we have saved approximately 3,079 megawatt hours of electricity annually through energy-efficiency initiatives such as transitioning to LED lighting and implementing modern building management systems.

Supply Chain Assessment

Delta encourages all our suppliers to complete the EcoVadis sustainability assessment to help us identify any gaps or corrective actions needed, and to recognize positive practices that support our goals. Delta has supported the onboarding of 710 suppliers to the EcoVadis platform, representing 57% of our enterprise-wide supply chain by spend. Moving forward, Delta is enhancing our carbon tracking program by transitioning from spend-based reporting to a hybrid approach incorporating supplier-specific emissions-based reporting and supplementing with spend-based reporting when information is not available.