Emirates sweeps top awards

Innovation and investment in cutting-edge in-flight entertainment (IFE) continues to reap rewards for Emirates Airline, as it swept three top accolades at the World Airline Entertainment Association’s (WAEA) Avion Awards, held in Toronto, Canada – the airline industry’s equivalent of the Oscars for in-flight entertainment.

Emirates was lauded for Best IFE in the World - for airlines with a fleet larger than 25 aircraft; Best IFE in the Middle East; and Best IFE Achievement - for the airline’s unique and creative customer offering during the 2006 FIFA World Cup where it successfully screened all football matches within hours of the game being played, and provided live score updates via its IFE system throughout its fleet.

Mike Simon, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications said: “Emirates has topped all the IFE categories in which it could compete, and that is a tremendous achievement. We are very pleased that the industry and importantly, our customers, are recognising our efforts to provide the best possible in-flight entertainment in the skies. We are not resting on our laurels and intend to continue raising the bar by using new technology and creativity.”

“In-flight entertainment is one of the key service differentiators for airlines today and it is a highly competitive area. Emirates has invested several hundred million dollars over the past few years to install the very best IFE systems and content possible, offering unparalleled programming choice, large TV screens and a bespoke easy-to-use system. We are continually innovating and strive to stay ahead of the competition in this important area of our product.”

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates' Vice President for Passenger Communications and Visual Services, received the awards on behalf of the airline at the event.

The annual Avion Awards honour excellence in in-flight entertainment. This year, in addition to a judging panel which comprised of over 20 experts in IFE-related fields, more than 36,000 airline passengers worldwide were surveyed for their opinions on the 30-plus airlines competing for the Avion mark of distinction.

Emirates’ commitment providing its passengers with the very best in-flight entertainment started way back in 1992, when it was the first airline in the world to offer personal TV screens in all classes on its entire fleet.

Today, Emirates’ customers are served a buffet of over 600 channels of on-demand entertainment on the airline’s ice (information, communication, entertainment) system. Conceived in-house and launched in 2003, Emirates’ ice system expanded the traditional entertainment-only product, offering much more – seatback sms and email services, and live text news updates throughout the flight.

Emirates recently unveiled its cutting-edge ice Digital Widescreen system which features many more firsts in the airline industry – including the ability for passengers to personalize their IFE experience by creating their own music Playlists; and view digital photographs by connecting their personal USB device to their personal IFE screen, amongst many other features.

In August, Emirates won the much-coveted Skytrax 2007 Best Airline Inflight Entertainment Award for the third successive year.

Full details of the WAEA Avion Awards can be viewed on Waea.org.