Last year, over 7 million Emirates passengers travelled to and from the GCC, Middle East and North Africa.

Catering to its growing customer base in the region, as well as offering international travellers a taste of Arab cuisine, entertainment and culture, Emirates offers a variety of thoughtful product and service offerings inspired by the 18 cities that it serves in the GCC, Middle East and North Africa.

Emirates offers over 100 regionally inspired dishes onboard most of its flights, not just to its 18 destinations in the GCC, Middle East and North Africa, but also to destinations across its network. Popular dishes like Chicken Machbous, Kibbeh bil Laban and an assortment of Arabic mezze regularly appear on menus. Dishes like Warak Enab have also been a mainstay with over 16,000 vine leaves being rolled each day for this popular Arabic starter to keep up with the demand.

On Emirates’ approach to providing the best dining experience at 40,000 feet, Joost Heymeijer, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Catering said: “We continually try to take high altitude dining to a whole new level, and tapping into the authenticity of the destinations we fly to is a top priority for us. For the Gulf, Middle East and North African regions, this means sourcing local ingredients like fresh bzar spice for Chicken Machbous, for a unique onboard experience that offers a taste of home.”

On the in-flight entertainment front, Emirates is a leader in Arabic content with up to 145 channels on offer in an average month on ice, the airline’s award winning in-flight entertainment system with over 2,500 channels as well as Live TV*. This includes 59 Arabic movies, 19 TV series from the region, 65 choices of Arabic music, in addition to Live TV that includes Arabic news channels like Sky News Arabia. Arabic subtitles are also available for over 75 movies in other languages. Passengers on all Emirates A380s and select B777s also enjoy free Wi-Fi for the first 10MB data used.

Patrick Brannelly, Divisional Vice President, Customer Experience commented on Emirates regionally inspired entertainment proposition: “To ensure the best experience onboard, we work hard to source content that is relevant to our passengers who come from backgrounds on six continents. Having a vast repertoire of Arabic movies, music and TV programmes guarantees that our customers from the region are able to enjoy ice in their language, and at the same time offers travelers from other parts of the world a glimpse into Arabic culture through the entertainment content.”

With over 2,700 Arabic speaking Cabin Crew in the Emirates team, the airline also ensures that there are native speakers on every flight. Travelling families are also treated to regionally-inspired toys, with the current “Fly with Me” range of kids’ giveaways featuring Leila the camel.

Emirates has been serving the Middle East, GCC and North Africa since 1985 and today flies to 18 destinations within the region on 345 weekly flights from Dubai. The airline’s flagship A380 serves both Jeddah and Kuwait City, and has also flown one-off services to Riyadh, Doha and Bahrain. The airline is also committed to supporting local sports and cultural events in the region, with over 20 major sponsorships that include the Arabian Gulf League, Dubai World Cup and Stars on Board.