With 13 consecutive SkyTrax’s Best In-Flight Entertainment Awards to its name, Emirates is regarded as the benchmark in in-flight entertainment and at the forefront of innovation. It was the first to install TV screens in every seat on every aircraft in its fleet in 1992 and the first airline to allow mobile phone use inflight in 2008.

Inflight Entertainment

Today the airline provides one of the most comprehensive and state-of-the-art entertainment and connectivity services in the skies. ice, Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system, now offers over 3,500 channels of entertainment, including over 700 movies from around the world and 90 kids’ channels.

The repertoire has grown exponentially over the decades from the 17 video channels, 22 radio channels and two external cameras beaming pictures of take-off and landing on personal video systems in all classes. Today ice can be viewed in high definition (HD) on larger personal TV screens – 32 inches in First Class, 23 inches in Business Class and 13.3 inches in Economy Class.

The offering today includes 2470 curated music channels, 347 TV channels including live sports, 39 language options and content with audio descriptions (AD) and closed captions (CC) for the visually and hearing impaired. It would take a passenger some 43 trips between Johannesburg & Dubai to watch the entire collection of movies alone.

The AD / CC library includes mainstream Hollywood titles like Game Night, A Wrinkle In Time, The Music of Silence, Black Panther amongst others.

Fouad Caunhye, Regional Manager, Southern Africa, Emirates talks about the airline’s investment in passenger-focused solutions like award wining on board entertainment system ice.

“The investment in passenger-focused solutions like entertainment, F&B is a key differentiator which sets us apart from the competition and on our own course. Whether it’s our friendly cabin crew drawn from over 135 countries, onboard connectivity or in-flight entertainment, we have been trailblazer of sorts,” says Fouad Caunhye, Regional Manager, Southern Africa, Emirates.

“If you are flying this month, you can easily feel at home with movies like Vuil Wasgoed and Nul is Nie Niks Nie and if African music is your preference, then we have over 30 channels of music from all over the continent.”

“For kids and young adults, we have dedicated channels playing Disney, Harry Potter, DC Comics and Marvel movies as well as dozens of channels for preschool kids.”

Complimentary Wi-Fi

More than 98 per cent of Emirates fleet is equipped with Wi-Fi for passengers wanting to stream their preferred content. Over the years, Emirates has invested more than US $200 million to equip its aircraft with connectivity. Demand for Wi-Fi on board has been steadily increasing and today over a million passengers per month connect while inflight.

The highest data usage from a single passenger was made by an Emirates Skywards member who stayed connected throughout their flight from Dubai to Johannesburg, consuming 4.9 GB of complimentary data.

All Emirates seats feature USB ports and PC power outlets across the three cabin classes to allow passengers to charge their own mobile phones and portable devices.

“We anticipated the trend of passengers bringing their own devices on board for entertainment. Our investment in the new generation Wi-Fi solution to meet the increasing demand for connectivity coupled with further improvements to the inflight entertainment system will provide a further boost to Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice,” adds Caunhye in conclusion.

“We believe the yields are better on a happy customer.”

ABOUT: Emirates is the world’s largest international airline, connecting over 155 destinations in 86 countries to and through its Dubai hub. Emirates also operates one of the largest fleets in the industry with 267 passenger aircraft, all of which are either Airbus A380 or Boeing 777 aircraft. Its luxurious amenities, regionally inspired gourmet cuisine, award-winning in-flight entertainment system – ice – and unmatched hospitality provided by its iconic multilingual cabin crew have made Emirates one of the world’s most recognised airline brands. Emirates operates four daily flights between Dubai and Johannesburg, three to Cape Town and a daily flight between Dubai and Durban.

 

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