WEBVTT - Delta CEO Ed Bastian Talks Uber Partnership, AI Assistant

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, two heads are better than one, as they say,

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<v Speaker 2>when it comes to Ed Bastian in his keynote of

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<v Speaker 2>the Sphere, several CEOs came up to me and said

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<v Speaker 2>that he set the bar so impossibly high on this presentation.

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<v Speaker 2>Inside of that technology forward venue, but Delta is thinking

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<v Speaker 2>about real technology for customers in how they get to and.

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<v Speaker 3>From and inside the airplane. Ed, we have a lot

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<v Speaker 3>to discuss.

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<v Speaker 2>All I want to talk about what you guys call

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<v Speaker 2>multimodel transport. I'm going to set a baseline and say

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<v Speaker 2>skeptical because I've been talking to Jobe ev tool company

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<v Speaker 2>for a flying tax company for a long time.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm yet to see it. But on the Uber deal,

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<v Speaker 3>very interesting.

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<v Speaker 2>So basically a partnership where you've got a Delta flight

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<v Speaker 2>you have an incentive to taking Uber to the airport.

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<v Speaker 3>Sounds like a very good deal for Uber.

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<v Speaker 4>What about you, Oh, it's a great deal for us too.

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<v Speaker 1>First of all, thank you for thank you for having

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<v Speaker 1>me Dar and I've been talking about this for a while.

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<v Speaker 1>Fifteen percent of all Uber rides are either to or

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<v Speaker 1>from airports, So the financial incentive, as you say, for

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<v Speaker 1>Uber to work exclusively with a large airline like Delta

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<v Speaker 1>is important, but also as we continue to improve both

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<v Speaker 1>of our premium experiences, so a lot of the focus

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be going on the upscale opportunities and

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<v Speaker 1>lift where Delta excels at, and I think Uber wants

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<v Speaker 1>to work with us to learn about that, and then

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<v Speaker 1>in turn, members of the Delta loyalty program and the

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<v Speaker 1>Uber Loyalty program drive incredible sign ups. And we've seen

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<v Speaker 1>that with other brands like Starbucks, for example, we blew

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<v Speaker 1>the lid off the loyalty programs of both companies when

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<v Speaker 1>we announced that a couple of years back. I think Uber,

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<v Speaker 1>you're going to see a similar type of trend where

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<v Speaker 1>people are going to pile in and say I want

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<v Speaker 1>to be part of the ecosystem you're building.

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<v Speaker 2>For those that's for Meili a Jobe is company that

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<v Speaker 2>makes flying taxis.

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<v Speaker 3>Ev toll, but they also want to operate a service.

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<v Speaker 2>Most people will be watching and listening in New York

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<v Speaker 2>City and also in Los Angeles, and our thoughts go

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<v Speaker 2>to those in Los Angeles impacted by what's happening with

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<v Speaker 2>the fires. The concept is that rather than take a

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<v Speaker 2>very long car journey to the airport in high density traffic,

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<v Speaker 2>you take a hot on an evy toll, you get off,

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<v Speaker 2>and you get on in your.

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<v Speaker 3>Case is a delta flight. It seems so far away.

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<v Speaker 4>Still ed Well, it's you. We're talking about the next

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<v Speaker 4>century of flight.

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<v Speaker 1>So our fame is Gelta is turning one hundred years

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<v Speaker 1>old this year, and we spent a little bit of

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<v Speaker 1>time reminiscing about what the first one hundred years of

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<v Speaker 1>flight was.

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<v Speaker 4>And when you think.

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<v Speaker 1>About where we were this time one hundred years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>or just the flight was just launching to where we

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<v Speaker 1>could end up one hundred years from now, here's a

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<v Speaker 1>tremendous amount of opportunity. So yes, in the immediate term,

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to take some time. It could be three years,

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<v Speaker 1>five years, seven years before these things start to gain

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<v Speaker 1>some scale. But we're already in the in the game

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<v Speaker 1>of Jobi. We're an investor as is in the product.

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<v Speaker 1>We expect in the next couple of years you'll start

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<v Speaker 1>to see it in the skies, both in New York

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<v Speaker 1>and la FA and regulatory agencies have been very supportive. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>they have building the framework for the certification of the product,

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<v Speaker 1>and we know there's great value proposition every time you're stuck,

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<v Speaker 1>whether it's going out on a one and a half

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<v Speaker 1>hour car ride between Manhattan and JFK and sometimes even

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<v Speaker 1>the Laguardian or the same thing in LA. Delta is

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<v Speaker 1>the number one airline in both New York as well

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<v Speaker 1>as in LA. We've got the infrastructure in place to

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<v Speaker 1>be able to bring that in. Again, it's going to

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<v Speaker 1>be a premium experience, which we specialize in.

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<v Speaker 4>So I'm excited about where it's going.

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<v Speaker 1>It's going to take longer than people would want it

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<v Speaker 1>to take, but it's coming.

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<v Speaker 2>That's often the case at CES, that's coming those kinds

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<v Speaker 2>of things, but this is coming.

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<v Speaker 3>You have convictions.

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<v Speaker 4>This is not a question of if.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just a question of how long it's going to

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<v Speaker 1>take through the learning journey.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's why I'll check in with you every year

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<v Speaker 2>until it happens. We have Delta's AI story early version

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<v Speaker 2>of it, Delta Concierge. You know, I'm someone that flies

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<v Speaker 2>a lot. I rely heavily on an interaction with an app.

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<v Speaker 2>Within the app as a chatbot, it's automated, driven by AI,

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<v Speaker 2>but often my frustration is I don't get the answer

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<v Speaker 2>I want, I need a human is Delta concierge going

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<v Speaker 2>to work and actually does it drive new customers to Delta?

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<v Speaker 3>How do they hear about it?

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<v Speaker 4>Well, first of all, we are operating at scale today.

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<v Speaker 1>We have two hundred million customers on an annual basis

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<v Speaker 1>that we serve.

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<v Speaker 4>We know so much about our customers, we have so.

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<v Speaker 1>Much insight from them that we're working with companies like

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<v Speaker 1>qual Tricks on the experienced management front or opportunities to

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<v Speaker 1>continue to take and create greater ability to serve up

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<v Speaker 1>the customers how they can get better control over the

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<v Speaker 1>travel journey. You know, so much of the apps today

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<v Speaker 1>are helpful, but when you really need them, as you say,

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<v Speaker 1>it's sometimes hard to get through a lot a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of the barriers in terms of true self service. So

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<v Speaker 1>this is going to take self service to a new

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<v Speaker 1>level where through voice, through through experienced management, through personalized

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<v Speaker 1>journey and our ability to build our technology personalized connection

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<v Speaker 1>to that customer. And it's not just going to be

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<v Speaker 1>about how do we get to a different flight if

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<v Speaker 1>I've had a cancellation, or how do I move my

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<v Speaker 1>seat or how do I look at my schedule. It's

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<v Speaker 1>going to be you know, what do you want to

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<v Speaker 1>do when you're there and people that kind of come

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<v Speaker 1>into our ecosystem potentially, do you want to take a

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<v Speaker 1>big a jobey versus having to take an over? Do

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<v Speaker 1>you want to have an opportunity to learn about what

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<v Speaker 1>we are doing along the journey? All of that's going

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<v Speaker 1>to be in a concierge model, and we just think

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<v Speaker 1>about historically who concierge have been. They've been all encompassing,

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<v Speaker 1>there to serve and that's what we can do with

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<v Speaker 1>gen AI.

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<v Speaker 3>Are you looking at AI for pricing, real time pricing?

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<v Speaker 4>We are, we are.

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<v Speaker 3>When does that happen?

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<v Speaker 4>We're already experimenting with it.

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<v Speaker 2>The number one question I get for you every every time, Starling,

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<v Speaker 2>and they look at your competitors and there's they're pivots, Starling.

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<v Speaker 3>They want to see it in Delta.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well we were with Starlink well before any of

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<v Speaker 1>the other airlines. I need deployment in terms of exploring

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<v Speaker 1>the opportunity. We worked with SpaceX for quite a few years.

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<v Speaker 1>We weren't able to get We were ready to go

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<v Speaker 1>before they were, and so that's why we moved with Ysat.

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<v Speaker 1>Viasat is already up and running and all of the

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<v Speaker 1>announcements you've seen around starlink largely and certainly there's some

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<v Speaker 1>Summit care airlines. Some of the small islands like Hawaiian

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<v Speaker 1>maybe up and running out, but everybody else is still

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<v Speaker 1>just starting.

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<v Speaker 4>On the journey. We're done with the journey.

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<v Speaker 1>We're going to be finishing out the international rollout this year,

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<v Speaker 1>and there will be opportunities if there's better technology to come,

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<v Speaker 1>we can learn that, but it wasn't ready for us.

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<v Speaker 1>We were ahead of the game and we're gonna stay

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<v Speaker 1>ahead of the game.

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<v Speaker 3>Had final question. You put a lot of work and.

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<v Speaker 2>Money into cloud migration AWS, but the big story CrowdStrike.

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<v Speaker 2>I want to ask simply what the learning and lesson

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<v Speaker 2>was there and the net result of what happened there.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, CrowdStrike is a situation where you pay top dollar

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<v Speaker 1>to have what you believe to be the best in

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<v Speaker 1>class defender of your surface.

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<v Speaker 4>Technology surface and unfortunately they failed us.

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<v Speaker 1>And so that will be litigated in the courts and

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<v Speaker 1>there will be some resolution achieved sometime.

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<v Speaker 4>It may take a year or two, we'll see what happens.

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<v Speaker 1>What we learned is that you can never allow the

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<v Speaker 1>technology provider to have access into your internal core without

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<v Speaker 1>your ability to ensure either they got the proper controls

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<v Speaker 1>in place where you have the controls over them.

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<v Speaker 4>And unfortunately that was the case.

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<v Speaker 1>And by the way, was it just a case of

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<v Speaker 1>Delta's case with hundreds of thousands of companies around the world.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's see, I'll see, I really appreciate your time.

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<v Speaker 2>Here is only twenty five