And since a picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at the pics below, which illustrate just how dramatic this “extreme makeover” really is. The new interior mirrors the product we provide on our 767-400ER fleet.

The prototype 767-300ER (ship 1608) arrived in Atlanta last night and is undergoing final inspections before returning to service on the Atlanta-Manchester, UK flight later in the evening. The aircraft will also be flying from our JFK hub with rotations to Accra,, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Dublin, Moscow, Pisa, Venice and Zurich. You can also expect to see the aircraft flow through Seattle with flights to Beijing and Osaka in the future.

The second 767-300ER is scheduled to begin its modification this weekend and the third is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15. A total of (7) 767-300ERs with new interiors, flat-bed seats and full cabin AVOD are scheduled to be in service by the end of this year, bringing the total number of flat bed-equipped aircraft to 46.

For those of you who want the ‘detailed’ details (you all know who you are)…here’s an overview of the new interior product:

BusinessElite

• 36 seats in 1 x 2 x 1 layout
• New seats are 20% wider than the cradle seats they replace
• 180º fully flat bed
• Direct aisle access
• Electronic seat controls with adjustable lumbar support
• 110v AC in-seat power + USB power
• Adjustable personal LED reading light
• Redesigned “flip-top” tray table mechanism with wide console

Economy Comfort

• 29 seats at 35” pitch in 2 x 3 x 2 layout
• “Slim-line” seats providing more personal space
• Adjustable headrests
• 110v AC in-seat power + USB power

Economy

• 143 seats at 31-32” pitch in 2 x 3 x 2 layout
• “Slim-line” seats providing more personal space
• Adjustable headrests
• USB power

In-Flight Entertainment

• Personal On Demand Entertainment
• 10.6”screens in BusinessElite (50% larger than previous screens); 7” in Economy
• 28 films (expanding to 100 films Sept. 1)
• 40 hours of HBO
• 25 hours of TV in 6 categories
• 4,100 digital songs in 14 music genres
• 15 games
• Moving map

Cabin Enhancements

• New ceilings, sidewalls and Passenger Service Units
• New LED lighting
• New lavatories
• New high-capacity overhead bins
• New galleys

And as always, I’d like to extend a special thanks to the men and women of TechOps for all their hard work on this project.

Have a great weekend!

Chris B.

Sr. Product Manager – Customer Experience

Charles Thompson, a maintenance professional in Delta TechOps, helped put the finishing touches on the MD-88, which went back in service yesterday. I sat down with Charles to learn more about the process and his role here at Delta.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you do for Delta TechOps?

I paint Delta aircraft as well as aircraft for Delta’s maintenance customers.

How many years have you worked for Delta and what areas have you worked in?

This month is my 13th anniversary with Delta ! With the exception of two years of service on the TechOps Employee Council, I have been a part of paint shop since my date of hire in April of 1998.

What’s your favorite part about your job as a painter for TechOps?

An aircraft painter’s skill is often measured in how slick or glossy the final product is. We maintain a healthy competition within our painting department regarding gloss. I love that about my job!

What’s the coolest project you’ve ever been part of?

I was lucky enough to be a part of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation project. I attend the air show in Peachtree City each year and I get to brag to my friends about which part I painted during each flyby.  

What was it like to be part of painting Delta’s last flowing fabric livery into the new one?

I think we all have a sense of accomplishment. Our main objective as a department, for the last 14 years, has been to get the fleet painted into one paint livery. Obviously we are excited!

What’s something cool that you get to do as part of your job that most people don’t know about?

When I talk to people about painting at Delta, one thing they are consistently surprised by is that everything on the aircraft is painted; the signboard, “n” number, ship numbers, even the flag is painted on. We don’t put stickers on our aircraft.

Over the years, how many aircraft have you’ve painted?

We paint approximately 100 aircraft per year. So, all of them twice! (Almost)

Ashley B.

TechOps Communications

As part of our $1 billion investment in global products and services through 2013, we’ll replace and remake every seat inside the 747s to completely revitalize the flying experience. Between summer 2011 and 2012, we’ll install 48 fully horizontal flat-bed seats in the BusinessElite cabin and 338 new seats in the Economy cabin.

When you walk onboard you’ll immediately discover the new benefits:

• Personal, on-demand entertainment in every seat. In Economy we’ll ditch the old overhead projection systems as we install new seats loaded up with technology. The new seats will be embedded with a nine-inch touch-screen entertainment system (I promise you’ll feel a lot like you’re using your iPhone or iPad!) and will offer access to movie titles, TV shows, digital music tracks, interactive games and a USB port to charge iPods and other electronic devices.
• Added personal space for new comfort in Economy. Each new Economy class seat adds 1.5 inches of additional personal space through a “slimline” design that more efficiently uses cabin space than the older, heavier seats they replace. In addition to the 1.5 inches you’ll find at your knees, your bags also will gain some breathing room with larger under-seat storage space.
• A nearly seven-foot bed to stretch out on in BusinessElite. That’s right, even our tallest customers will be able to fly flat out in these new seats! The new seats are similar to the popular flat-bed product offered on our 777-200LR fleet today but with one notable change – they’ll be configured in a new layout, moving window seats to face the window and center cabin seats to face towards each other for customers flying together. These seats, like our other full-flat products, will all have direct aisle access and also include 120-volt universal power outlets, USB ports and 15.4-inch video monitors.
• Lots of movies, music and games.  The in-flight entertainment server powering all these new seats is big and fast. So big and fast, in fact, that it enables nearly 400 customers to watch 250 different movies, play dozens of different games and listen to 4,000 music tracks on demand all at one time.

You’ll see the first of these revitalized 747s flying as soon as next summer, primarily to and from our Tokyo-Narita hub.

Check out the images of what we’ve designed here. We’re proud of this upgrade and we hope you like the latest in a long list of new Delta product improvements to come!

Mike B.

Customer Experience Team

Today I’m eager to share some great news from our friends at Aircell, the provider of Gogo In-Flight Internet service. Drum roll, please! On Saturday, they completed their 1,000^th Wi-Fi installation! The lucky plane was a Delta DC9-50, which made its first flight with Wi-Fi Tuesday from Detroit. Passengers on board the flight were greeted by the folks at Gogo and treated to complimentary Internet access on board!

It was a great day for Delta as well. The Gogo service was installed on Ship 9877 Saturday evening in Detroit, marking the 524th Wi-Fi installation for us!

In fact, as of today, Sept. 1, nearly all of Delta’s domestic mainline fleet, 529 of 549 aircraft, have been equipped with Wi-Fi service.

The remaining aircraft include (1) A320, (2) DC9-50s and (8) 757-200s.  There are (2) 737-800s and (7) MD90s that have not yet joined the fleet but don’t worry, they’ll be outfitted with Wi-Fi prior to entry into service.  For more info, check out the official Aircell news release.

I hope you’ve been enjoying our Gogo In-Flight Internet service and would love to hear what you think!

P.S. Don’t forget to download our free Delta iPhone app today! It’s great for checking in to your flight, seeing your flight status, getting airport info and a lot more. Plus, you can use the app for free on any Gogo Wi-Fi-enabled flight!

Chris B.
Customer Experience Planning & Development

Our Wi-Fi partner, Aircell, continues to enhance the Gogo network with the introduction of new cell towers and by splitting existing towers into additional sectors. This “sectorization” provides more bandwidth to each plane, which enhances the onboard broadband experience — especially within high traffic flight paths — like the Northeast corridor.

Also of note, our friends (and codeshare partners) at Alaska Airlines, recently announced that they would be equipping their entire fleet with Gogo Inflight Internet…and Aircell announced additional cell towers would be installed in Alaska in order to cover the Alaska Airlines network. Good stuff.

Delta by the numbers…some interesting factoids:

The 437 Wi-Fi-equipped Delta aircraft represent 56% of the world’s entire Wi-Fi-enabled fleet.

Delta offers nearly 1,400 daily domestic flights with Wi-Fi; each day 180,000 customers fly on Wi-Fi-enabled Delta planes.

Since the launch of inflight Wi-Fi in December 2008, more than 1 million customers have used Wi-Fi on Delta planes.

Fleet Deets:

B737-700 10 (Fleet complete)
B737-800 71 (Fleet complete…note that 2 additional 737-800s will be equipped with Wi-Fi prior to joining the fleet)
B757-200 103 of 132
B757-200 ETOPS 17 of 17 (fleet complete)
B757-300 1 of 16 (deactivated pending STC)
B767-300 10 (Fleet complete)
B767-300 ETOPS 0 of 4
A319 47 of 49
A320 44 of 69
DC9-50 1 of 33 (deactivated pending STC)
MD88 117 (Fleet complete)
MD90 16 (Fleet complete…note that 12 additional MD90s will be equipped with Wi-Fi prior to joining the fleet)

We’re just about finished with the A319 fleet and the A320 fleet is more than halfway done. I’d love to hear from the folks in MSP, DTW and MEM (where most of the Airbus narrowbodies are based). Who’s surfed the Web on our Airbus fleet? How was the experience?

Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager, IFE

Ship 7110

Believe it or not, airplanes have that “new car” smell. If you don’t believe me, just ask any of the more than 80 employees that accompanied Delta’s newest Boeing 777-200LR from the factory in Seattle to the company’s headquarters in Atlanta last Thursday. Delta CEO Richard Anderson joined employees for the delivery events.

The employees are all members of Delta’s annual Chairman’s Club, which honors 100 peer-nominated employees for consistently demonstrating dedication and determination to the highest standards of service to customers, fellow employees and the communities Delta serves worldwide each year. While not a Chairman’s Club member, I had the honor of attending the event as a reporter for Delta’s internal employee communications publications.

The festivities kicked off on Wednesday with employees receiving a VIP tour of Boeing’s factory and Future of Flight Museum. While some guests then opted to hit the gift shop. others group stood atop a hill near the factory’s runway and clapped, cheered, and cried as they saw Delta’s 777-200LR take off for its ferry flight to Seattle International Airport.  That evening, we sat down with Boeing and Delta leaders for dinner at Boeing’s Museum of Flight.

Boeing and Delta 777 Dinner

Thursday morning, we wiped the sleep from our eyes and headed to Delta’s hangar at Seattle International Airport. On the bus ride over, attendees swapped flying stories and filled the bus with laughter as a light rain continued to fall over Seattle. After noshing on a light breakfast, we boarded the air stairs, loaded our bags, and strapped in. While the plane featured Delta’s full-flat seats in BusinessElite, everyone sat in economy so that the seats would be available during flight for us to explore.

During the four and a half hour flight back to Atlanta-which felt like just a few minutes- we explored the cabin and dined on a four course meal. Flight attendants gave away prizes to those who answered tough trivia questions posed over the PA (e.g., When was the war of 1812?). We explored the aircraft’s in-seat entertainment system, taking in the latest Oscar-winning movies while munching on Haagen Dazs ice cream sundaes.

The employees on that plane told me they will remember different moments from the event that will stay with them forever. One said for him, it will be the moment the doors to the hangar opened and revealed the mammoth aircraft. Another told me she will remember meeting so many employees that shared a deep passion for Delta and its success. But there is one thing that all participants will surely remember: the smell of the new leather seats and the feel of the brand new aircraft as they boarded the plane for its inaugural flight home.

Shiela Brown & Janice Grant on 777 Delivery

Have you been on the Boeing 777-200LR? Share your experience with us.

Rachel W., Writer, Corporate Communications

Here’s what you can expect:

• 90 trans-oceanic aircraft will be updated with full flat-bed seats, adding the ability to stretch out and relax in our BusinessElite cabin on all Boeing 767-400ERs, 767-300ERs, 747-400s and 777-200ERs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• 16 Boeing 747-400s and 52 767-300ERs will receive in-seat audio and video on demand in Economy Class, offering personal entertainment on all wide-body aircraft.
• 66 CRJ-700s will be outfitted with First Class comfort for Delta Connection customers.
• 269 pre-merger Northwest aircraft will be revamped to feature our signature blue leather seats as well as updated lighting and cabin amenities.
• 170 Boeing 767-300ERs, 757-200s and 737-800s will fly with extended range and fuel efficiency thanks to the winglet installations.
• Four additional Delta Sky ClubsÔ will be available to customers with the renovation and expansion of our L.A. lounge and new locations in Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Seattle.

So, what does it all mean for you?  A more consistent, comfortable and convenient (not to mention sustainable) travel experience, whether you’re onboard, enjoying top-of-the-line amenities and our premium on-demand entertainment (now available on more planes than any other U.S. carrier), or relaxing in our extended global Delta Sky Club network.

And, this is all in addition to our continued initiative to outfit our domestic fleet (530+ aircraft) with in-flight Wi-Fi.  We’re making major progress with Wi-Fi installed on 340+ aircraft and plans to hit our goal this summer.  So, you may now sit back and surf, stay in touch or even respond to this blog on more flights than ever before.

We’re thrilled about these investments and hope you are too.  Let us know what you think.  What improvements would you like to see on the Delta docket over the next few years? You can post here or tweet us @deltablog.

Ranjan Goswami

Director – Customer Experience Planning & Development

66% Complete – 343 of 528

MD88:  117 A/C

MD90:  16 A/C

B737-700:  10 A/C

B737-800:  71 A/C

B757-200:  102 A/C

B757-200 ETOPS: 17 A/C

767-300: 10 A/C

TOTAL: 343

Awaiting Supplemental Type Certificate (STC):

A319:  1 A/C

A320:  1 A/C

757-300: 1 A/C

Chris B., Sr. Product Manager

In-Flight Entertainment

As of this update Delta has installed Wi-Fi on more than 51% of the combined (pre-merger Delta + Northwest) domestic mainline fleet, which is a total of 269 out of 520 planes. We’ve completed the MD88 and MD90 fleets and have recently ramped up installations across the 757-200 and 737-800 fleets. Engineering teams are on track to cross the 300 aircraft mark by the end of 2009.

Over the past month we’ve also installed Wi-Fi on three additional aircraft types…the A319, A320 and 757-300. We’re still awaiting the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for these three types but expect them to be operational in December.

The really BIG news, however, is that we’re teaming up with eBay to provide complimentary access to every customer on every Wi-Fi-enabled flight from Nov. 24-30. It’s a win-win-win partnership in that our customers get free access, eBay is able to reach an entirely new audience and we’re able to build awareness about the Wi-Fi product via a new channel.

In fact, we expect more than 1 million customers will be able to benefit from the promotion during Thanksgiving week (just enter the promo code EBAYWIFI). That’s a lot of people doing their holiday shopping on eBay, sending instant messages and updating Facebook…all while 7 miles up and speeding through the sky at 530 mph!

Given the amount of engineering and scheduling work that’s gone into scoping and installing Wi-Fi on 9 different aircraft types and nearly 300 planes, it’s pretty amazing that in less than one year we’ve gone from zero planes with Wi-Fi to the world’s largest Wi-Fi-enabled fleet and the most expansive Wi-Fi network in the sky…and that’s all due to the outstanding work of our Engineering teams and partners at Aircell.

I’d love to hear your feedback about your Wi-Fi experiences on Delta. I’ll be traveling during over the holidays (NRT-SGN-BKK-SIN-MNL) but will post the next update during the first week of December. Until then, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

MD88: 117 A/C (All)

M90: 16 A/C (All)

B737-700: 1 A/C

B737-800: 24 A/C

B757: 103 A/C

B753: 1 A/C (Awaiting STC)

B767: 5 A/C

A319: 1 A/C (Awaiting STC)

A320: 1 A/C (Awaiting STC)

Chris B., Sr Product Manager, IFE

*Offers subject to change. Use of the Gogo service is subject to terms of use available at gogoinflight.com.

Customers can help support the Foundation’s mission to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by accessing Gogo on their Gogo-equipped Delta flight this Saturday for free using the code GOPINK.