Delta allegedly switching flight crew hardware from Surface to iPad in early 2018
Airline Delta is allegedly in the process of switching its staff from Windows-based devices to iOS, with flight attendants set to replace Nokia handsets with the iPhone 7 Plus in early 2018, while pilots will apparently see their Microsoft Surface tablets exchanged for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.
An email alleged to have been sent to Delta employees on October 18 advises of upcoming changes to devices provided to its flight crews. Received by MacOSKen, the email mentions the change will allegedly affect "more than 23,000 flight attendants and 14,000 pilots," with all receiving Apple hardware "as the airline transitions to its next generation of flight crew devices."
It is said the iPhone 7 Plus will replace existing Nokia Lumia 1520 phablets, which are used by attendants as an onboard customer service tool and an in-flight point of sale system. The change apparently brings Delta "in line with its Joint Venture partners at Aeromexico, Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic."
"The new iOS device will continue to feature the Guest Service Tool which allows flight attendants to provide more personalized service and recognize high-value customers on each flight," the email states. "Flight attendants can also provide customers with the status of down-line flights and connecting gate information."
Pilots will apparently be provided an iPad Pro to replace their Surface tablets, used as an electronic flight bag. The iPad Pro will be loaded with Delta's suite of tools for pilots, "including the Jeppesen Flight Deck Pro for flight planning, the latest version of Delta's turbulence app - Flight Weather View Plus, and a content library containing detailed aircraft and procedural manuals."
Delta is said to "join many other airlines, including key global partners, in leveraging the iOS platform to provide a high degree of synergy and cooperation in the continued development and enhancement of aviation applications."
Despite supposedly moving away from Microsoft's hardware, Delta will apparently continue to "maintain a strong an positive partnership" with the company, noting that some of the customer service-oriented apps are "powered by Microsoft Dynamics."
The email advises "Delta will begin jointly rolling out the iPads to pilots and iPhones to flight attendants early next year."
While the email is credited to "Staff Writer" and there is no issued PR relating to the change thus far, it is worth noting MacOSKen received two messages from two individuals about the hardware update. While one provided the email in its entirety, the other message from a different individual provided a brief summary of the changes.
AppleInsider has also confirmed the story with a source within Delta not authorized to speak for the company.
Delta started testing the use of electronic flight bags on domestic flights in 2011, before committing to the scheme in 2013 by rolling out the Microsoft Surface 2 to pilots. At around the same time, Delta had closed a deal to equip its flight attendants with the Nokia Lumia 820 smartphone for customer service tasks.
The use of a tablet as an electronic flight bag is intended to be a space and cost-saving measure, replacing the paper manuals and other required flight documentation that can weigh as much as 40 pounds. The iPad was approved for such use by the Federal Aviation Authority in 2011, and was also in use by American Airlines and Alaska Airlines shortly after approval was granted.
At the time of the full rollout, a pilot working for Delta claimed to AppleInsider that flight crews "fought hard for iPad," suggesting the deal with Microsoft was about money, travel contracts, and Delta's Information Technology staff historically being "in bed" with Microsoft.
An email alleged to have been sent to Delta employees on October 18 advises of upcoming changes to devices provided to its flight crews. Received by MacOSKen, the email mentions the change will allegedly affect "more than 23,000 flight attendants and 14,000 pilots," with all receiving Apple hardware "as the airline transitions to its next generation of flight crew devices."
It is said the iPhone 7 Plus will replace existing Nokia Lumia 1520 phablets, which are used by attendants as an onboard customer service tool and an in-flight point of sale system. The change apparently brings Delta "in line with its Joint Venture partners at Aeromexico, Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic."
"The new iOS device will continue to feature the Guest Service Tool which allows flight attendants to provide more personalized service and recognize high-value customers on each flight," the email states. "Flight attendants can also provide customers with the status of down-line flights and connecting gate information."
Pilots will apparently be provided an iPad Pro to replace their Surface tablets, used as an electronic flight bag. The iPad Pro will be loaded with Delta's suite of tools for pilots, "including the Jeppesen Flight Deck Pro for flight planning, the latest version of Delta's turbulence app - Flight Weather View Plus, and a content library containing detailed aircraft and procedural manuals."
Delta is said to "join many other airlines, including key global partners, in leveraging the iOS platform to provide a high degree of synergy and cooperation in the continued development and enhancement of aviation applications."
Despite supposedly moving away from Microsoft's hardware, Delta will apparently continue to "maintain a strong an positive partnership" with the company, noting that some of the customer service-oriented apps are "powered by Microsoft Dynamics."
The email advises "Delta will begin jointly rolling out the iPads to pilots and iPhones to flight attendants early next year."
While the email is credited to "Staff Writer" and there is no issued PR relating to the change thus far, it is worth noting MacOSKen received two messages from two individuals about the hardware update. While one provided the email in its entirety, the other message from a different individual provided a brief summary of the changes.
AppleInsider has also confirmed the story with a source within Delta not authorized to speak for the company.
Delta started testing the use of electronic flight bags on domestic flights in 2011, before committing to the scheme in 2013 by rolling out the Microsoft Surface 2 to pilots. At around the same time, Delta had closed a deal to equip its flight attendants with the Nokia Lumia 820 smartphone for customer service tasks.
The use of a tablet as an electronic flight bag is intended to be a space and cost-saving measure, replacing the paper manuals and other required flight documentation that can weigh as much as 40 pounds. The iPad was approved for such use by the Federal Aviation Authority in 2011, and was also in use by American Airlines and Alaska Airlines shortly after approval was granted.
At the time of the full rollout, a pilot working for Delta claimed to AppleInsider that flight crews "fought hard for iPad," suggesting the deal with Microsoft was about money, travel contracts, and Delta's Information Technology staff historically being "in bed" with Microsoft.
Comments
The tides are turning in enterprise....
I guess, pilots do not do any "real" work on those surfaces! /s
This is great news. A friend of mine is a commercial pilot and also freelances as a contract pilot for private jets. I was amazed to see some of the planes he flies have iPads installed as part of the glass cockpit. It took me a minute to realize they were iPads. They are really becoming the standard for aviation.
Hell will freeze over before any pilot will depend on a Surface Pro for their aviation needs.
Microsoft isn’t necessarily a looser though. They are doing a much better job in getting productivity software on Apple IOS and Android. That often ties into other Microsoft services hosted on Azure. Businesses still want Microsoft products, they are very strong in servers, and helping managing things in the enterprise. Dynamics is reportedly and strong product in accounting and manufacturing. Exchange Server has become bloated, but it works very well for Mid-sized companies, and larger. And, for smaller companies hosting it in the cloud makes sense.
I’m not a big fan of Windows 10, it’s a messy UI. And, they move things around inexplicably. But it’s still the best Enterprise OS.
In other words, the Microsoft’s doing many good things. But, Joe Consumer isn’t seeing it. For example, Microsoft Office has never been as unstable as it is today, and probably needs a complete rewrite. That’s going to be almost impossible for so many reasons I’m not going to get into.
Sorry about going off on a tangent...
Apple IOS (IPhone/IPad) is fantastic, my biggest concern is what they’re doing in hardware. Apple has always been about premium hardware, the problem is they’re moving into SUPER premium. A $1000 phone is crazy, and the laptops are almost as bad. The problem is Apple products are becoming a poor value.
I think we’re already starting to see that in China where sales are declining. I’m willing to pay a 25% premium for a superior product, but Android is starting to work through through their greatest flaws, like security, usability, and timely updates. My next tablet upgrade is 2-3 years away, and there is a very good chance it will run Android.
Good news for Apple on the enterprise front these days for sure.
The critical information, they say, needs constant compatibility checks every time iOS gets even a minor update, still on IOS 10 because of that, we unfortunately do weight and balance, passenger boarding and other ‘ancillary’ things as well as Jepps and integrated MMEL, not sure which direction this ‘step’ is......
The comment about "constant compatibility checks every tiem IOS gets a minor update" is pure utter bullshit and I've used every API on just every platform known to man, from mainframes IBM/CISC, VAX/VMS in the early 1980s to IOS/Android/Windows and all modern Unix variants in the last 35 years.
Considering how ridiculously lightweight, and removed from hardware, those apps/functions would be for Ipad, makes the whole argument absurd unless litteral idiots programmed those systems (which may be the case for all I know...).
Seems like someone wanted to switch and pulled something out of their ass to justify it.