In recent years, Delta Air Lines has become a fixture at CES, regularly hosting splashy keynotes. This year, the company loaned out Sphere to announce its latest update. These include an in-app AI-powered assistant and a modern in-flight entertainment system with a 4K HDR display and Bluetooth connectivity (get the idea?). Members of Delta Air Lines' SkyMiles frequent flyer program will also soon have free access to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music on the airline's aircraft. Delta announced these updates at CES 2025.
The new AI assistant, which Delta Air Lines is calling “Delta Concierge,” will be introduced later this year. Users will be able to interact using voice or text. Of course, in this age of large language models, this is not necessarily groundbreaking. The aim here is to provide proactive advice and guidance to travelers, starting with notifications about upcoming passport expiry dates and visa requirements. In the future, the service will also provide destination-specific notifications about local weather, for example.
The concierge can also provide information on bag drop locations, Delta's Sky Club, and departure gates.
All of this feels useful, but a little overwhelming. Also, many of these new features feel more like gambles than major innovations. In fact, I'm pretty sure we don't need AI to check if a passenger's passport is expired or tell them where their connecting gate is.
The new seatback experience, which Delta Air Lines describes as “the first cloud-based in-flight entertainment system,” is scheduled to begin rolling out in 2026. It features a 4K HDR QLED display, Bluetooth connectivity, and a 96-terabyte onboard storage system for movies, TV shows, music, and more.
Again, it feels like Delta is playing catch-up. For example, United Airlines' ongoing fleet updates already offer 4K displays and Bluetooth connectivity. That system may not be connected to the cloud, but I'm not sure that matters to travelers, especially after the entire United Airlines fleet becomes Starlink-enabled. For now, it doesn't include the free YouTube Premium and Music that Delta plans to offer.
And since a CES keynote wouldn't be a CES keynote without unveiling some ideas that are unlikely to ever make it to market, Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday that it's collaborating with Airbus on the next stage of flight testing. He also announced that he plans to do so. fly project. The idea here is to fly the planes in formation, like a flock of geese, to save energy. This project has been going on for several years. It's a nifty concept, but it would require so many regulatory changes to become a reality that it's unlikely to be used anytime soon.