Delta Air Lines and Green Taxi partner on electric, engine-off taxiing system

 

PLANO, TX – Delta Air Lines and Green Taxi Aerospace have announced a partnership to develop an electric, engine-off taxiing system designed to reduce fuel consumption, operating costs, taxi time and carbon emissions. The collaboration is being advanced through Delta’s Sustainable Skies Lab, which will apply airline operational expertise to help optimize the system for airport environments, with an initial focus on regional aircraft use cases.

Green Taxi’s Zero Engine Taxi (eTaxi) concept enables aircraft to taxi without using main engines, limiting fuel burn and engine wear while lowering ground-level emissions. The companies say the technology could save hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel annually once scaled, while improving on-time performance by streamlining pushback and ground movements.

“This collaboration is about taking action today to show meaningful progress in aviation sustainability with technology that makes operations cleaner and more efficient,” said David Valaer, founder and CEO of Green Taxi Aerospace.

Sangita Sharma, director of Delta’s Sustainable Skies Lab, framed the initiative as a near-term operational lever alongside longer-horizon efforts: “Our Green Taxi partnership is another example of Delta’s approach to impact what we can control today while we innovate future technologies like scaling sustainable aviation fuel and revolutionary fleet development.”

Delta has stated a path to net-zero emissions by 2050 and organizes its decarbonization program under three pillars: what we fly (fleet and technology), how we fly (operational efficiency), and the fuel we use (SAF scale-up). With roughly 90% of the airline’s emissions tied to jet fuel, taxi-phase fuel savings represent a tangible operational efficiency gain that can be deployed ahead of large-scale SAF availability.

For travel trade and aviation professionals, the partnership signals growing momentum behind ground-operations decarbonization. If certified and adopted at scale, engine-off taxiing could influence airport infrastructure planning (power availability and ground safety procedures), MRO strategies (reduced engine cycles during taxi), and airline cost structures (fuel and maintenance). Key milestones to watch include certification pathway, retrofit versus line-fit options, airport integration requirements, and quantified ROI across different fleet types and hub profiles.

Tags: David Valaer, Green Taxi Aerospace, Sangita Sharma, Delta Air Lines