Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet will soon be flying high with Delta.

The airline on Monday announced it will deploy the Surface 2 to its 11,000 pilots as part of an effort to eliminate paper flight manuals. The deployment will start later this year with pilots flying the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 fleets, and all Delta cockpits are expected to be paperless by the end of 2014, the company said.

The Surface 2 tablets will be loaded with charts, reference documents, and checklists pilots need to do their jobs. This means crews will be able ditch the traditional 38-pound "flight bags," which contain this material in paper form and must be maintained onboard for each pilot. The weight reduction is expected to reduce fuel usage by an estimated 1.2 million gallons per year and cut the airline's paper usage by 7.5 million sheets annually.

"Delta's electronic flight bag running on Surface 2 continues the technological strides Delta has been making to give our crews the best tools to keep them flying safely and efficiently," Capt. Steve Dickson, Delta's senior vice president of flight operations, said in a statement. "This intuitive device puts key information at their fingertips right when they need it. By eliminating paper, we'll reduce clutter and minimize time spent looking for flight information allowing our pilots the opportunity for greater situational awareness in the air and on the ground."

Delta expects to receive approval from the FAA to use the tablets during all phases of flight next year. That approval will follow an extensive testing period onboard the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767. Approvals for all fleet types are expected by the end of the year.

American Airlines has a similar effort, but with Apple's iPads.

The move towards a paperless cockpit comes after Delta over the summer embraced the Windows Phone-powered Nokia Lumia 820 . The airline deployed the handset to its 19,000 flight attendants, who use it to access customer and flight information.

Microsoft last week unveiled the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, the follow-ups to its first self-produced tablets, promising significant performance and battery life boosts, as well as a bevy of new features and accessories. For more, see our Hands on With the Microsoft Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2.

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