Delta Air Lines Continues Sustainability Push

There’s a plan for everything. For Delta Air Lines, that also includes a road map to sustainability by 2050.

Delta Chief Sustainability Officer Pam Fletcher first shared the strategy with the airline’s more than 90,000 employees in late February. It’s focused on two pillars: embedding sustainability in everything the airline does and eliminating the company’s climate impact from flying.

“Delta people are known for doing difficult things well,” Fletcher said in an email to all employees on Feb. 28. “As we reshape the fundamentals of aviation, we are as dedicated to making immediate progress as we are to invest wisely in disruptive solutions.”

Delta would love to be sustainable tomorrow. All airlines would. But this is a work in progress, and it starts with interactive sustainability.

The reduction of fossil fuels and evolution to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is at the forefront of Fletcher’s mid-term strategy. After all, the fuel that powers jets accounts for around 98 percent of an airline’s carbon footprint.

Delta’s sustainability strategy also accounts for near-term goals, including minimizing Delta’s impact from single-use plastic, transitioning to electric ground service equipment, and encouraging vendors in its supply chain on their own sustainability plans.

Fletcher, a well-known leader in the transportation sector, joined Delta in 2022. Her outlined sustainability strategy builds on the company’s ongoing progress and affirms its commitment to setting goals aligned and informed by science and proven metrics to ensure accountability and transparency, the company said.

‘“We’ve already achieved significant results, like reducing single-use onboard plastics by nearly five million pounds annually and saving 10 million gallons of fuel last year thanks to the work of Delta’s Carbon Council,” Fletcher said. “Our foundation is strong. Now we accelerate.”