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.

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.

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 personalise 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.

Emirates flies five times weekly from Dubai to Malta via Larnaca in Cyprus, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on the Boeing 777-200.