Yiran Wang
Delta Air Lines × Airbus × Georgia TechSponsored project2025
Overview
Fuel expenses are the single largest and most volatile operating cost for airlines. Tight turnaround aircraft keeps the auxiliary power unite (APU) running, so that every additional minute burns fuel and generates carbon emission.
However, inefficient cabin cleaning dispatch can extend turnaround time, delay departures, increase APU costs and carbon emissions, and decrease passenger satisfaction.
Solution
We redesigned Delta’s SMARTrack Dispatch platform to share cabin conditions reported by cabin crew directly with dispatchers and cleaning teams before cleaners reach the gate. The system also predicts cleaning demand, recommends staffing and equipment, and tracks progress in real time, helping cleaning teams arrive prepared while reducing the risk of turnaround delays.
Our solution was projected to save one to two minutes of turnaround time per flight, support higher aircraft utilization, and can avoid up to 344 million kilograms of CO₂ annually at industry scale. It was well received by our Delta sponsors, who recognized its operational value.
Process starts here
Context
Delta’s Sustainable Skies Lab challenged our team to explore how design could support Delta’s broader path toward net-zero emissions by 2050.
In our early conversations with Delta, we captured a key information that reducing avoidable ground time could limit unnecessary APU fuel burn and improve aircraft utilization, which could reduce carbon emission and improve company revenue.
During our research, we learned that cabin cleaning, as a tightly coordinated turnaround activity, could be improved to reduce aircraft ground time.
Literature review
The average turnaround times commonly exceed the planned time, with Delta Air Lines extending 10min than planned in average.
In the industry research below, the cabin cleaning started off with an 8min delay, not only caused a compression of cleaning time and discounted cleaning effect, but also pushed the entire turnaround procedures and cutting it very close to flight delay.
Since the engine keeps running non-stop during short-turnaround, every single minute burns fuel, generates carbon emissions, and reduces revenue. By saving 1 min of turnaround time per flight, we could in total reduce 172 million kg carbon emissions per year.
The discovery revealed the value and opportunity of reducing cabin cleaning delay, and potentially further reducing cabin cleaning time, to reduce flight turnaround time.
Next, our challenge was to figure out what causes cabin cleaning delay.
Stakeholder interview
We interviewed the Manager of Technology and Dispatch at Delta to map how cabin cleaning actually gets coordinated, with the expectation to find friction in the cleaning work itself. Instead, both problems we found sat upstream, in how decisions get made and how information moves.
Cabin soil levels vary widely by route, but dispatchers have no data but to estimate required cleaning effort from personal experience. Under dispatch cleaners can cause extended cleaning time and flight delay.
Dispatchers assign each cleaning team manually across a full board of inbound flights. Without visibility into current team status, some crews absorb back to back turns while others sit idle, which creates fatigue.
Dispatchers and cleaners communicate by messages containing gate numbers, tail numbers, and service codes. Under time pressure, a single mistyped gate sends a crew to the wrong aircraft.
The cabin cleanliness situation is passed through the cabin crew, the ACS tower, the dispatcher, and the cleaning team lead, to reach each cleaners, so that they get the least accurate information of what they are walking into.
Biohazard incidents require specific kits, and that detail often arrives after the crew is already at the gate, which means a trip back to the equipment cart when the turnaround clock is already running.
Dispatchers already work in SMARTrack Dispatch, a desktop platform for monitoring flight status, assigning cleaning teams, and messaging crews. During the walkthrough, we watched how much effort went into simply reading it. The system holds the right data but the interface makes that data expensive to retrieve, which adds seconds to decisions that happen hundreds of times a shift.
Design direction
Both directions build on the SMARTrack platform dispatchers already use. Instead of introducing a new workflow, we wanted to remove the guesswork and the delay from the one already in place.
Utilizing Delta’s SkyPulse cabin monitoring system, we can collect data on route history, turnaround records, reported cabin conditions, and passenger load, and let the system forecast how many cleaners a flight likely needs and which tools to bring. The system recommends, and the dispatcher decides. With the system carrying the routine estimates, they can stay focused on the exceptions, the ones that carry real consequences if missed.
Instead of relying on linear information handoffs, the existing system could serve as a centralized information hub where all stakeholders share updates and stay in sync throughout the turnaround process, so that important cabin situation are prepared ahead of time.
Design development
We first rebranded the platform to align with Delta’s established visual identity. Then, we applied Delta’s tertiary brand colors as semantic status indicators which brings delays and other urgent conditions to immediate attention.
The existing flight detail panel held everything a dispatcher needed and gave none priority.
We grouped fields into labeled sections and made secondary information collapsible, so dispatchers can land on target cabin information faster.
Flight status, team assignments, and team information lived in separate panels, so dispatchers had to trace responsibility by hand.
We merged them into one sortable board where every row carries its own status with team size.
Dispatchers had no view of crew availability, so some teams absorbed turn after turn while others sat idle.
We utilize a persistent status bar to group every team by availability, so crews on break stay off the board and free teams are visible when somewhere needs an extra hand.
We added a synchronized hygiene report shared across all three devices.
Cabin crew tag issues worth attention by seat, the system estimates the overall hygiene level, and cleaners receive equipment recommendations before arriving at the gate. All information are visible to dispatcher in real time.
The cleaning progress report helps cleaners track completed and remaining tasks while giving dispatchers visibility into live progress, which ensures timely communication when delays occur.
The real time progress bar shows each stage of the turnaround, which helps dispatchers quickly identify situations that require intervention.
Impact measurement
The system addresses two sources of lost time. Earlier information helps teams avoid late cleaning starts, such as the eight minute delay in our reference case. Better preparation and communication could then reduce cleaning duration by an estimated one to two minutes and allow more buffer for the remaining turnaround activities.
Beyond the operational and environmental benefits, we also aim to support people’s well-being involved in each turnaround. The design promotes more balanced workloads for cleaners, less coordination burden for dispatchers, and supports a cleaner cabin environment for cabin crew and passengers.
Overall, our design benefits people, planet, and profit.
Outcome
Our Delta sponsors were especially impressed by how the solution connected cabin cleaning efficiency with carbon reduction and advanced the concept for further exploration within Delta.
The project was later selected as one of three finalists in the University category of the 2026 Crystal Cabin Award. It was presented to an international jury in Hamburg, Germany, where it was named the category winner.
Reflections
The course curriculum initially focused on improving physical cleaning tools, based on the assumption that the tools were causing cleaning delays. After speaking with dispatchers, I learned that the greater issue was time lost through communication and coordination. Those conversations changed how I framed the problem and revealed a more meaningful design opportunity.
We began with little knowledge of the aircraft turnaround process. Learning how each stakeholder worked, how information moved, and how the existing system supported operations gave us a more holistic view. This understanding helped us think from a systems perspective and make better design decisions.
Through dispatcher interviews, I learned that aesthetics were secondary to speed and ease of use. Dispatchers cared most about finding information quickly and completing tasks efficiently. This taught me to use visual hierarchy, color, and layout to improve readability and support faster decisions.
