In this year’s Sky Team Alliance Sustainable Flight Challenge, Delta Air Lines took home the top prize in two categories: “Lowest CO2 Ground Emissions Home Base” for electric ground support and “Best Innovation Wildcard” for several high-quality submissions.
The judges delivered the results at a gala Tuesday attended by participating airlines and a number of industry partners. Delta was also a finalist in both “Best in Innovation” and “Lowest CO2 Emissions Ground Ops” categories.
Innovation and collaboration are essential to decarbonize the hard-to-abate airline industry. They’re also core to Delta’s DNA, which is why Delta once again participated in the second annual Sky Team Alliance’s Sustainable Flight Challenge in May. Participating airlines explored new ways of operating and delivering sustainable experiences in an effort to accelerate the industry’s progress toward more sustainable travel and net zero by 2050.
“If we’re going to be successful in reaching our goals, players from across our industry need to be going down different paths and trying new things to see what works best,” said Amelia DeLuca, Delta’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “No one airline or manufacturer or supplier can do this alone. What I love most about The Sustainable Flight Challenge is it gives all of us in the industry the opportunity to test new solutions, get feedback in real time from employees and customers, and compete in a collaborative way that spurs even more innovation for the sustainable future of flight.”
The challenge brought together industry innovators while giving airlines a platform to test and showcase parts of their sustainability strategies in action. Delta participated using its most fuel-efficient aircraft, with roundtrip flights from Los Angeles to Atlanta (medium-haul domestic) on May 17 and Atlanta to Paris (long-haul international) on May 23.
Participating airlines’ efforts were evaluated by an esteemed panel of judges, including professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment, Steven Barrett; Dr. Fang Liu, former Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization; and Tom Williams, former Chief Operating Officer of Airbus.
The global airline showed up in a number of ways that showcased its overall sustainability strategy of embedding sustainability in everything it does while working to eliminate its climate impact from flying. In totality, the below actions added up to Delta’s Best Innovation Wildcard win…
