In a move to encourage more passengers to check in for flights electronically, Delta Air Lines will roll out an upgraded check-in system on some of its kiosks in Atlanta and several other airports Thursday.

Atlanta-based Delta will test the new system on 16 of Delta's 137 kiosks at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, along with smaller tests at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles and Orlando. It will be rolled out across Delta's system within the next month.

The physical kiosk itself will remain the same, but the new system shown on the screen is aimed at reducing the number of steps required to check in for a flight.

Delta has plenty of incentive to make it quick and easy for passengers to check in at a kiosk. It costs an airline about 14 cents to check in a customer through a kiosk versus about $3 through an agent, according to Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt.

The new system, which Delta has spent about $1 million and a year of work on, might initially be more confusing for those familiar with the old kiosk process.

"There will be a learning curve," said Josh Weiss, managing director of delta.com and self-service. But ultimately, he hopes passengers will cut the amount of time it takes to use a kiosk by 20 percent to 30 percent.

The upgraded kiosk system is part of Delta's efforts to increase the share of passengers checking in using kiosks, delta.com or personal devices to 80 percent, from the current 65 percent.

Part of the kiosk check-in upgrade involves cosmetic touches to make kiosks more appealing to those skittish about using the machines.

"If consumers who are nervous already about using the technology actually walk up to a kiosk and find it's too difficult to operate ... that can discourage adoption," said Travis Kircher, editor of selfservice.org, the Web site for the Self-Service and Kiosk Association.

The first screen on Delta's new kiosk system has "calming and soothing imagery" such as cloudscapes, Weiss said. It "tries to be welcoming," he said, with greetings like "good morning."

At the same time, Delta is trying to appease frequent business travelers that dislike cumbersome extra steps in Delta's system.

Delta's kiosk technology had fallen behind other airlines' systems in some areas.

"Delta is definitely in the middle of the pack," while United and American have more efficient systems, Harteveldt said.

Those that start the process to check in for a Delta flight by swiping a credit card, for example, may have to answer a series of questions like what city they are flying to and what time of day their flight is.

"It should be fewer steps and less time to get a record," Weiss said. "In almost every case we've eliminated some of those steps, if not all of them."