Delta to Equip More Than 30,000 Flight Crew Members With iPads and iPhones

Delta plans to equip more than 23,000 flight attendants with iPhones and 14,000 pilots with iPad Pro models, according to a leaked internal email that Delta told Fortune is legitimate.

Flight attendants currently use Nokia Lumia 1520 phablets, which will be replaced by the iPhone 7 Plus as an in-flight point of sale and customer service tool.

Delta pilots are currently using Surface tablets in the flight deck as an electronic flight bag, with those tablets set to be replaced with the iPad Pro.

Though Delta is transitioning away from Microsoft products as it adopts the iPhone and iPad, the email says Delta "continues to maintain a strong and positive partnership with Microsoft." Some of the apps used on the iPhone 7 Plus are powered by Microsoft Dynamics.

The hardware change is pard of an "overall Delta hardware refresh" to standardize on a 10.5-inch form factor, a Delta spokesperson said.

iPhones and iPads will begin rolling out to flight attendants and pilots next year.

Tag: Delta

Top Rated Comments

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Pbrutto

22 months ago

Rating: 8 Votes

dontwalkhand

22 months ago

There goes yet another company switching from Windows Phone to iOS!

Rating: 5 Votes

Nicksd84

22 months ago

iOS proliferation in the enterprise is truly astounding. I work for a benefits consulting company. We’re iOS centric for mobile devices and virtually every client we work with is the same.

Rating: 3 Votes

BigBossTony

22 months ago

The

While I admire Steve Jobs and his work with Apple, even if he were alive today and I happened to be a bigger Apple fan than ever before, I would still not fly on Delta nor any other US airline just because they switched to using Apple products. US airline companies have the worst service. Apple treats their customers with respect. US airline companies treat their customers with disrespect and even hostility. I will always be willing to pay a little more to fly overseas with a non-US airline. That is how much I dislike my several past experiences with US airline companies.

You think US airline companies are the worst because you haven’t try Air Canada :)

Rating: 2 Votes

Michael Scrip

22 months ago

There goes yet another company switching from Windows Phone to iOS!

There couldn't have been that many companies using Windows Phones in the first place, right? :)

Rating: 2 Votes

BWhaler

22 months ago

Let’s hope those pilots are not running iOS 11

Rating: 1 Votes

Markoth

22 months ago

I'm sure this will aid in their employees' future battles with their paying customers. Perhaps this will give them a strategic edge in the ring.

Heh, heh.

Rating: 1 Votes

PickUrPoison

22 months ago

Delta doesn’t expect any additional business due to switching to Apple products. They’re just making the smartest business decision for their requirements.

US airlines customer service deficiencies certainly won’t be cured by switching smartphone/tablet vendors, any more than changing their employees’ uniform provider would.

Rating: 1 Votes

4nNtt

22 months ago

I’m curious which mobile OS will Microsoft employees switch to? Hmmm.

Probably both, but they seem to be preferring iOS. It could be they see Apple as less of a competitor then Google or maybe just because iOS is easier to deploy in an enterprise. Fewer models to validate in the environment and more management features. Not sure at Microsoft, but most enterprise environments give very few Android options to choose from. Many always allow the latest iPhone, but take a long time to approve new Android devices forcing employees in to an older model.

Rating: 1 Votes