Emirates to add more features for Children

By BA Staff

Emirates will boost the children’s content on its in-flight entertainment system, ice Digital Widescreen (information, communication, entertainment) in December

Children on an Emirates flight in December have more than 50 hours of kid-friendly TV and new features on ice Digital Widescreen include Nickelodeon featuring Bubble Guppies, Spongebob and Team Umizoomi, and new and updated channels dedicated to Thomas & Friends, Dora the Explorer, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Austin & Ally, and The Gruffalo. This is in addition to the BBC’s CBeebies, pre-school channel Disney Jr., Cartoon Network and over 15 channels of children’s television.

iceDigital Widescreen’s movie line-up is also adding movies such as Despicable Me 2 and One Direction, The Smurfs 2, Planes, and The Croods. Many of these movies are available in up to seven different languages and close to half offer closed captions.

Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ Vice President Corporate Communications Product, Publishing, Digital & Events said:

“We want getting there to be half the fun, and the flight on Emirates to be the part that everyone in the family looks forward to. Having a great entertainment line-up for kids also helps alleviate some of the travel stress from the parents, so they can relax and enjoy the flight.”

He added:

“Emirates pioneered inflight children’s entertainment with the launch of a dedicated children’s TV channel back in 1992, and the introduction of a huge selection of Disney movies in 2003. We aim to continue raising the bar in this regard and look holistically at the whole entertainment offering such as the variety of games to play, music to listen to, kids activity packs and the newest members of the Emirates family: the Fly With Me Monsters.”

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Video: Etihad's new TV commercial

by Devesh Agarwal

Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways is releasing a new TV commercial (TVC) across the world in the next few days.

Created by M&C Saatchi, the TVC will be released in the UAE on March 3rd, and then across Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, UK, USA, and Nigeria the next day.

The commercial which has been produced by Rogue Films in London, is directed by David Edwards, and was filmed in Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Prague and Sydney over a one month period starting in mid-December 2012. Using a split screen technique the commercial tries to juxtapose Etihad on-board service with lifestyle scenes from international destinations, fine dining restaurants and five star hotels around the world. The soundtrack is Bobby Darin’s 1967 classic, "Beautiful Things".

Once you watch the video, do read on for another interesting link.



You can also watch video detailing the making of the commercial by visiting the Bangalore Aviation Facebook page. While you are there, give our page a "Like" and remember in addition to an e-mail subscription, or RSS feed, you can up to date with us via Facebook as well.

For other exciting videos, please visit the Bangalore Aviation YouTube page also.

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Video: Lufthansa's new "nonstop you" campaign's TV ad

Image courtesy Lufthansa

At the ITB show in Berlin, German carrier Lufthansa announced a new media campaign titled "nonstop you".

The new campaign attempts to build on the carrier's strong reputation amongst business travellers and also targets leisure travellers more directly than before.

Signifying a change in focus by airlines across the globe this year, the campaign focuses on the passengers and their wishes, experiences and dreams that are linked with flying Lufthansa.

The new brand positioning was explained by Dr. Reinhold Huber, Senior Vice President Product and Marketing, Lufthansa German Airlines,

“It signals a change in perspective. Now we are no longer talking so much about what Lufthansa does or what we do for our passengers. Rather the focus is on the people we are doing it for.”

This focus on "passengers as people" is also found at Dubai based Emirates airline which revealed its new "Hello World" campaign and TV spot recently.

In this, the first English ad, Lufthansa uses owls for the warm cuddly feeling, and moving on to its metal birds and a low fare offering. The one aspect of this ad that escapes me, is the Airbus A380 superjumbo. The ad appears to be targeted at the European market, and the A380 is only used on intercontinental routes by Lufthansa. So why feature it at all?



Share your thoughts. Comments are welcome.

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Video nostalgia: The TV ads of British Airways - The world's favourite airline

British Airways is one of the world's most recognisable airlines and at 93 years, one of the oldest. The radio call sign for British Airways is Speedbird, based on the stylised icon of the airline's predecessors, Imperial Airways and BOAC, and probably best symbolised by Concorde.

The airline has naturally relied upon and continues to rely on history and nostalgia for the "feel good" factor in its advertisements. The musical theme predominantly used is The Flower Duet by Léo Delibes. Yanni's Aria is a variant.

One of the most famous series of advertisements by the airline were with the tagline "The World's Favourite Airline" which debuted in 1989 with the famous "Face" advertisement, considered one the best TV ads of all time, and also one of the most expensive.



The above ad is the one revised in 1994 to show the new uniforms. The original 1989 ad can be viewed here. British Airways finally dropped the tag-line 12 years later in 2001 when it was superseded by German flag carrier Lufthansa in terms of passenger numbers.

Other ads of this era include the Island ad, and the Cry When Happy ad. One of my favourites from this genre is the "Rebecca" ad which touches upon human characteristics. One can only wonder where those wonderful human touches have disappeared to, in today's rushed world of air travel.



In 2007 the airline adopted a new tag line "Upgrade to British Airways" but still retained the musical theme.

British Airways also "Indianised" their musical theme in their 'Namaste India' ad which targeted the emerging upscale Indian tourist market.



In September 2011, to maximise its 90 years of operations, British Airways rolled out its "To Fly. To Serve." ad, the airline's largest TV campaign in almost a decade.



This year, to celebrate the London Olympic games, British Airways have released an ad titled 'The Race'.

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