Brand

YouTube, Delta Air Lines Announce Major Partnership For Enhanced In-Flight Entertainment

Published on September 26, 2025

Delta Air Lines and YouTube have announced a multi-year partnership that will bring YouTube content to the airline’s seatback in-flight entertainment systems. The collaboration provides passengers with curated content from top YouTube creators and podcasts.

Delta, currently celebrating its centenary, is expanding its entertainment offerings as part of ongoing technology upgrades to its in-flight systems.

“This was a no-brainer,” Julieta McCurry, Delta’s VP of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity Strategy, told The Hollywood Reporter. “When we looked at what customers enjoyed doing while on board via the Internet, the number-one platform they were streaming was YouTube.”

Premium Access and Free Trials

Beginning in October, eligible Delta SkyMiles members will receive two-week free trials of YouTube Premium, the platform’s ad-free subscription service. The partnership also includes curated YouTube Music playlists during boarding, including a soundtrack developed in collaboration with Delta flight attendants.

Miguel Quiroga, YouTube’s VP of Product Partnerships, emphasized the strategic alignment: “From a YouTube perspective, we’re really focused on bringing the best of the world to our users through quality content. That intersection felt really compelling.”

Broader Technology Enhancements

The YouTube integration builds on Delta’s broader technology upgrades announced at CES 2025. The airline is collaborating with Thales Avionics to introduce next-generation hardware, featuring 4K HDR QLED displays and increased storage capacity, starting in 2026.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian previously highlighted the partnership as delivering “the most premium source of content in the industry for free,” supported by Delta’s Wi-Fi services.

Content Discovery Focus

Both Delta and YouTube emphasized content discovery as a key benefit of the partnership.

“The opportunity we had is to allow our customers to discover creators or talent or content that maybe they haven’t yet been able to discover on their own,” McCurry explained.

Quiroga described the offering as “featured content” that will be “periodically updated” with “premium and longform content that’s generally widely popular and suited for in-flight viewing.”

Passengers will continue to access YouTube on personal devices through Delta’s in-flight Wi-Fi, with the curated seatback offerings providing an additional entertainment channel.