Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

    Thales’ AVANT IFE Platform to Foster Innovation on Emirates Boeing 777X Fleet

    Share

    Thales Emirates
    Patrick Brannelly, Emirates, announces a partnership with the adoption of the AVANT in-flight entertainment system on Emirates’ Boeing 777X fleet, plus an innovation center in Dubai. Image: Lim Kok Wee

    APEX Insight: Thales announced at APEX EXPO today that it has secured a deal to equip Emirates’ future Boeing 777X fleet with AVANT in-flight entertainment systems. The order is the result of Thales’ commitment to establish Discovery Dubai, an innovations center in the United Arab Emirates.

    Emirates has selected Thales’ AVANT in-flight entertainment (IFE) solution for the first 50 of its fleet of 150 Boeing 777X aircraft. The order is the result of Thales’ commitment to establish Discovery Dubai, an innovations center in the United Arab Emirates, along with maintenance and repair facilities, enabling the airline to have more influence in the development of future projects.

    “This experience will evolve as Emirates wants to evolve,” says Dominique Giannoni, chief executive officer, Thales InFlyt Experience. “AVANT has been designed from the start to follow this incremental evolution,” he said, citing the need to keep up with the fast-pace of technology.

    “I hope the biggest surprise will be the experience for the customers.” -Patrick Brannelly

    Patrick Brannelly, vice-president of Customer Experience, In-flight Entertainment and Connectivity at Emirates, said Thales’ innovation was complementary to the innovation of the Boeing 777X. “Disruption is when you challenge everything and think, ‘How can we do it better?’ The goal is for when that aircraft delivers, it will be full of surprises, and I hope the biggest surprise will be the experience for the customers.”

    While deliveries of Emirates’ first 777X aircraft are scheduled for 2020, Discover Dubai is expected to open in two years. “We need to be close to our airline customers and to Emirates,” said Giannoni. “Not only because we need to work hand in hand on a daily basis, but also to understand their context, their demographics, their strategy.”

    AVANT, an open Android-based IFE system that also flies on other Gulf carriers, including Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways and Oman Air, is expected to be the first IFE solution to debut on the 777X. However, Qatar Airways, which uses the AVANT IFE system on its fleet of Airbus A350s, is scheduled to be the launch customer of the aircraft.