Dubai Airshow: Emirates gets special edition IFE from Panasonic

The deal was finalised today during a signing ceremony at the show.

The new System 2000-eX Hybrid solution provides Emirates' A330-200 and A340-300 aircraft, equipped with Panasonic's System 2000e product, a head-end server and distribution solution comprised of eX2 components.

This extends the service life of these configurations while providing Emirates a digital content capability aligned with the rest of their Panasonic IFEC product.

This solution replaces the S2000e analog head-end (tape) with digital storage and reproduction. The solution is extended to provide full audio-video on demand (AVOD) capabilities in premium classes allowing for the removal of in-seat video cassette players. Providing X Series AVOD capability with digital video content for Emirates passengers enhances the quality of the entertainment experience on Emirates' acclaimed ICE (information, communication, entertainment) IFEC product while eliminating the cost of tape reproduction and tape player maintenance.

”At Panasonic, we're often faced with interesting opportunities to help our customers gain additional value from their existing IFEC solutions,” said Paul Margis, Chief Executive Officer for Panasonic Avionics Corporation.

“Emirates tasked us with improving the IFEC experience and reducing operating costs. With System 2000-eX Hybrid, we're excited to have addressed all of these areas while bringing enhanced value to Emirates' passengers.”

”Emirates continues to lead the way and set high expectations in the inflight entertainment arena,” said Adel Al Redha, Emirates' Executive Vice President Engineering and Operations. “Since our ice product was first introduced Emirates has won numerous international awards for innovation, with our inflight entertainment now an important factor in our customers overall inflight experience.

“With System 2000-eX Hybrid, Panasonic has designed a very creative solution that will add Emirates' award winning ice product to the premium cabins on these aircraft, offering over 500 channels, as well as significantly improving the programming choice in Economy Class to over 100 channels of Movies, TV, Audio & Games. We look forward to maintaining and expanding our working partnership with Panasonic so that together we can continue to enhance the inflight product for the millions of passengers that travel with Emirates each year.”