Elevating Excellence: Emirates Launches Its First A350-900 with Thales’ Innovative AVANT Up IFE System
In partnership, Thales and Emirates celebrate the launch of the airline’s first A350-900 aircraft with a voyage from Dubai to Edinburgh (Scotland) on January 3, 2025. The aircraft is equipped with Thales’s state-of-the-art AVANT Up inflight entertainment platform. Marking a transformative moment in inflight entertainment, Emirates has introduced the progressive version of the ‘ice’ IFE system on the A350, featuring a collection of groundbreaking enhancements made possible by Thales innovations aimed at elevating the onboard experience. This system boasts over 30 new functionalities, with numerous additional features expected in the upcoming months.
Thales’ 4K QLED HDR screens provide a cinematic experience, presenting unparalleled picture clarity in the skies and highly-responsive touchscreens for seamless navigation through ‘ice’ extensive entertainment catalog. The setup includes two Bluetooth connections, enabling travelers to connect multiple devices alongside integrated Wi-Fi. This system is outfitted with Thales’ award-winning power management solution that supports up to 60W of in-screen charging capabilities, ensuring that passengers reach their destination fully charged.
Unique passenger experiences at every seat
AVANT Up offers a wide range of digital services and applications, allowing Emirates to uniquely tailor and continuously enhance onboard services, crafting a customized journey for every traveler. Passengers will have the capability to log in at their seat, save their personal settings, and resume watching their favorite shows. The IFE system will also deliver curated suggestions based on viewing history, offer personalized connecting gate details, and so much more.
Innovative features on Emirates A350
Passengers aboard the new A350 aircraft will enjoy industry-first event-driven live TV showcasing “happening now” content, including sports highlights, news, and special events. The system also includes a unique Digital Video Recording function that revolutionizes inflight entertainment. Beyond live broadcasts, travelers can relish iceMoments, a fresh way of enjoying content in short video segments. Leveraging Emirates’ ‘ice’ interface, passengers can navigate a smart search engine, a toolbar with play controls and settings, along with a distinct pictorial user interface (UI) for younger audiences.
Inclusive travel for all
In collaboration, Emirates and Thales present an award-winning UI for passengers requiring vision support. The UI features audio-navigation assistance, voice feedback on metadata, tactile, and swipe gesture controls, as well as a broad array of audio-descriptive content to nurture a more inclusive and accessible travel experience for everyone.
“Thales is honored to celebrate with Emirates as the airline’s inaugural A350 takes flight. We are excited for Emirates passengers to experience the next generation of in-flight entertainment on ice, powered by AVANT Up,” expressed Niels Steenstrup, Chief Executive Officer, Thales InFlyt Experience. “We take pride in partnering with Emirates in their mission to enhance air travel. Together, we are pushing the boundaries of IFE to consistently elevate the standard of the inflight experience.”
