Emirates celebrates 30 years of channel hopping in the sky
In 1992, Emirates made the bold decision to install TV screens in all seats across all cabin classes throughout its fleet.
The original TV advert for the airline’s new in-flight entertainment showed passengers sitting in jazzy zig-zag pattern seats, sporting flat-top haircuts and power suits, as they changed channels on their personal tilting video systems embedded into the seats in front of them.
Costing an estimated £12,000 per seat, other airlines questioned the move. But it went on to shape traveller expectations and the inflight entertainment industry.
Patrick Brannelly, senior vice president retail, IFE and connectivity, said: “We quickly realised our customers loved being entertained throughout the flight. It made their journeys feel shorter and fostered customer satisfaction and loyalty. Within a year, we were working to expand content choice to 20 channels on Emirates’ Boeing 777s which were to join our fleet in 1995.”
In 2003, it launched ‘ice’ inflight entertainment with 500 channels, and by 2013 it offered the first live TV on board its aircraft. Two years on, it unveiled the ice digital widescreen TV and by 2017, 3,000 channels were available, plus, in premium class, noise-cancelling headphones.
A year later, it was the first airline to give a choice of 1,000 movies, and in 2019 it expanded to 4,500 as well as launching EmiratesRED TV, the world’s first inflight TV shopping channel.
Voted Best Inflight Entertainment at the APEX Passenger Choice Awards last year and Skytrax World’s Best Inflight Entertainment every year since 2005, it now offers a staggering 5,000 channels.
Emirates also has led the way in inflight connectivity, from the introduction of satellite phones in 1993 to becoming the first to install systems that enabled mobile phones to be used on aircraft.
Large, ultra-high definition 4K screens, with faster wi-fi connectivity, are among plans for its new generation of systems for its future fleet on order. emirates.com