A behind-the-scenes look at two teams playing key roles in the product strategy and engineering aspects of the nose-to-tail cabin redesign.
When you’re boarding a plane and looking for your seat, or are already thinking about what your first meal will be, you might not immediately notice details about the plane, like the carpeting and seams under your feet. Delta Comfort+ seats, overhead lighting.
But you should know that Delta’s new cabin redesign, which will begin rolling out over the next few years, will bring new seating materials, enhanced lighting, a refreshed color palette, and more across our fleet. I think you’ll notice (and be impressed). With this redesign on the horizon, we’ve carefully designed interiors that optimize comfort, safety, and style, whether you’re taking a one-hour domestic trip or an 18-hour bus ride. We wanted to bring to a close what it takes to create a new world. A one-hour journey to the other side of the world.
The new cabin design improves the customer experience and showcases Delta’s future of flight. It will debut on a narrow-body Boeing 757 and begin domestic and short-haul international flights later this fall, followed by a wide-body Airbus A350 in early 2025.
We spoke to two teams who play key roles in the product strategy and engineering aspects of the nose-to-tail cabin redesign to find out how the aircraft is transformed into a comfortable sanctuary in the sky.
Team introduction
The Onboard Experience (OBX) team, responsible for in-flight product strategy and vision, works with Delta engineers, maintenance technicians, flight attendants, sales teams, design firms, and other stakeholders to create an aircraft that is considered a hard product. Design everything within.
“If you shake an airplane upside down, what’s left behind is considered a hard product,” said Michael Steinfeld, Delta Aircraft Inflight Product Manager. “We are responsible for the overall look and feel of the cabin, from the seat design to the color of the walls and carpet.”
Michael Steinfeld, Delta Air Lines’ Inflight Product Manager, attended the first cabin lighting workshop for Delta’s cabin interior redesign.
Hard product launches, such as designing new seats, configuring or retrofitting an aircraft with next-generation products, or activating an entire aircraft cabin redesign, take time, with design and concept alone taking two to four years.
For the OBX team, the first two years of the cabin redesign project were spent researching Delta’s aircraft, interviewing customers and crew about their itineraries, and documenting all the different aircraft variations. This was followed by a workshop. This long process required examining thousands of samples, from wall, carpet and seat materials to metal trim and even screws.
It took four years of intensive work to create a timeless look that reflects Delta’s 100-year heritage and fits every aircraft in the airline’s diverse fleet.
The colors for the cabin redesign were chosen to complement all seven colors of white used on Delta’s more than 1,000 aircraft.
Delta Airlines has used the same bright blue shade, Enchanted Blue, on its seats since 1998. The redesigned cabin now features a more comfortable shade, Delta Dark Blue.
The Premium Cabin introduces ‘red thread’ to highlight customer features such as additional pockets on the front seat and headset position.
Once the OBX team understands the vision, the Cabin Engineering team executes it, and the two teams work together to select the best products that will improve the customer experience and stand up to the rigors of daily operations.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Delta Air Lines,” said Alexandra Douglas, general manager of cabin engineering and programs for Delta Air Lines. “When suppliers present us with the products they offer, the OBX team looks at them through a customer experience lens: what capabilities they have in place and what they offer to customers. “Is there one?” “From our team’s perspective, we ask how reliable is it? How well will it withstand the rigors of travel? How available is a particular item?”
Jack Newman from the Onboard Experience team and Paul Anderson from the Cabin Engineering team participated in the first seat cover design workshop for Delta’s cabin interior redesign.
The Cabin Engineering team combines maintenance and customer feedback with engineering to perform everything from supporting day-to-day needs to minor configuration updates to executing cabin-based projects. The team’s efforts also go into providing products and materials that help reduce risk and reduce the number of repairs needed. This means examining materials with extreme scrutiny and developing customized testing standards with manufacturers to ensure full compliance and safety.
Choosing the right material
It’s industry standard to test seats by simulating how a seated passenger moves across the seat, but our cabin engineering team goes a step further by testing seats by simulating how a seated passenger moves across the seat. We reproduced the real-life situation by reducing the number of times.
“We found a seat material we liked, but when we tested it we found that simply changing the texture of the seat cover caused the bag to grab onto the material and wear out faster,” says Tab Pearson, Cabin Engineering Manager. says Mr. Delta Air Lines program.
So the team went back to the drawing board to find something that looked good and could withstand the rigors of daily use, including dropped bags and spills. “No matter how good it looks, it’s worthless if it doesn’t last long,” Pearson says.
Executing a project involving changes to cabin interiors, especially a project as large as an entire cabin redesign, requires an engineering perspective that includes world-class cleanliness, onboard health and safety, sustainability, onboard service, accessibility, etc. . One of the first ways the OBX and cabin engineering teams begin to collaborate is when considering different products and materials.
“We start with many options and possibilities in mind and work closely with our engineering, maintenance and onboard colleagues to refine and iterate until we have the best possible product.” Steinfeld said. “This is a very creative part of the process where we all put our heads together and there are no bad ideas. We work as a team to create something great.”
Choosing the right carpet was definitely one of the biggest tasks in the cabin redesign project. Carpets are the most subject to wear, so we put a lot of effort into making sure the colors, textures, and patterns not only stand up to foot traffic, spills, and Biscoff cookie crumbs, but are also easy to install and maintain. Ta. The airport team will clean it.
An elevated and comfortable space
All materials and decisions chosen during the interior redesign were made with the aim of ensuring that every cabin feels luxurious. Because each team understands that a million miler starts with a zero miler.
The nose-to-tail cabin interior transformation was created by hundreds of people across Delta who are passionate about not only getting people to their destination, but also making them feel at home in the sky. It’s a labor of love brought to life. Just like they do on earth.
“The last serious effort like this was 20 years ago, and it brings together a consistent look and feel,” Pearson said. “As we approach Delta’s 100th anniversary, it’s exciting to reflect on the brand we present to the next generation and look to the future. We’re all contributing to this, and we’re building something truly solid. It is planned.”
© 2024 Delta Air Lines, Inc.
