It is a hard for an airline to become “carbon net zero”

If you run an airline, and you believe that it’s important to become “carbon net zero,” the most obvious problem you have is that you’re an airline. That means you are in the business of flying airplanes, which run on jet fuel. For an airline, 98 percent of its carbon footprint is burning jet fuel. It’s a hard problem to solve.

In 2020, Delta Air Lines said it would spend $1 billion over the next 10 years in an effort to become the world’s first carbon-neutral airline. For example, in January, at CES, the company announced an initiative called Sustainable Skies Lab, which will explore alternatives from across the industry in an effort to reduce the carbon impact of flying. And, Delta is working with Airbus to design long-haul, wide-body aircraft of the future that are powered by hydrogen.

One of the ways Delta is doing this is a partnership it announced in October with Joby Aviation, a company building an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) that will be used as an air taxi to transport you from home to the airport.

Last week, Pam Fletcher, who is Delta’s chief sustainability officer, was on stage at SXSW with Joby’s CEO JoeBen Bevirt. I had a chance to moderate the conversation between the two of them and the thing that struck me most is that even though the problem is really hard, there are a lot of smart people trying to solve it.

“When we think about eliminating our climate impact from flying, that’s a hard problem,” says Fletcher. “But I’m optimistic. Delta is not going to solve that alone. We need powerful partnerships with amazing leaders and disruptors. And, we need powerful coalitions because in some cases we have to bring an entire ecosystem together.”

Delta’s partnership with Joby is a great example. Joby’s S4 aircraft is battery electric, with a range of around 100 miles, making it ideal for the short hop to the airport from neighboring communities. Delta, on the other hand, brings the experience of working with airports to build out the infrastructure needed to incorporate a seamless experience for its customers.

“The capital is valuable,” says Bevirt, “Even more important is Delta’s relationships and Delta’s customers. The relationships with the cities around the country, and being able to develop infrastructure. Being able to stitch our air taxi flights in and around cities seamlessly with your delta journey.”

That, after all, is the goal. In a few years, you’ll be able to book a flight using Delta’s website or app and add on an air taxi with Joby, similar to the way you can already do so with Lyft.

Obviously, taking a flight with Joby instead of riding in a cab or taking public transport doesn’t lower the amount of emissions from Delta directly. Still, it does change the overall amount of emissions from the travel experience. And, when you’re trying to solve a problem that big, every little bit helps.

And, the reality is, these solutions will take a lot of time. Delta’s partnership with Joby won’t start serving customers until 2025. In the meantime, Joby recently completed the second of five phases of FAA type certification. The point is, big problems require creative solutions that take time, so it’s never too early to get started.

The other thing I love is that this move also solves a completely different problem at the same time, which is the terrible experience of getting to a lot of airports, especially in densely populated cities with lots of traffic. You know, cities like New York and Los Angeles.

According to Bevirt, the goal is to launch the service at a price comparable to what you would spend on a taxi with an interface as simple as booking a Lyft or Uber. Of course, instead of sitting in traffic for 40 minutes trying to get from midtown Manhattan to JFK, you take a seven-minute flight with Joby.

There’s a lesson for every business leader, which is that your partners matter. You’re not going to be able to solve every problem on your own–definitely not the really hard ones. Delta has partnered with a number of brands that it believes elevate the experience for its customers. For example, Delta serves Starbucks coffee and recently announced that members of its SkyMiles program can link their account with their Starbucks Rewards and earn miles when getting a coffee at the airport.

In this case, Delta is trying to solve the hardest problem of all. It’s not going to be able to do it entirely on its own, which is why it makes sense that the airline is partnering with an innovative new type of aircraft that helps it solve two hard problems at the same time. That, ultimately, is the best kind of win-win. apple.news & inc.com