By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: Emirates’ signature Ramadan service is expected to begin on May 5th to coincide with the start of the Holy month. During Ramadan, the airline expects to serve 1 million dates to customers during iftar and suhoor, both on board and on the ground in Dubai. Emirates’ Ramadan service consists of specially crafted iftar meals on board, relevant programming on its ice inflight entertainment system, and the distribution of dates and water on the ground.
Customers breaking their fast on board will be offered iftar boxes with a nutritional meal. Each box consists of couscous salad & grilled chicken or moudardara & roasted chicken, sandwiches, spinach fatayer or tomato and onion fatayer, assorted sweets, dates, laban and water. Over 150,000 iftar boxes will be served during the holy month, ensuring customers are well catered for in addition to the usual Emirates meal services on board. The iftar box menus will be refreshed mid-Ramadan.
These special meals will be available to passengers across all cabin classes on select Emirates flights that coincide with iftar times. This includes flights to and from the Gulf region as well as flights catering to Umrah groups travelling to Jeddah and Medina during the month of Ramadan. During the holy month, cold meals will be served in lieu of a hot one on all flights to Jeddah and Medina, including Umrah day flights.
Emirates utilises a unique tool to calculate the correct timings for imsak (the time to commence fasting) and iftar while in-flight. It calculates the exact Ramadan timings using the aircraft’s longitude, latitude and altitude; ensuring the greatest level of accuracy possible while on board. When the sun sets, passengers will be informed of the iftar time by the captain.
Emirates continues its partnership with Silsal Design House for the box designs inspired by Middle Eastern culture. For customers looking for a keepsake, Emirates Arabic Coffee Cups by Silsal are available at the Emirates Official Stores with international shipping.
All seven Emirates lounges at Dubai International Airport will also cater to customers who are fasting. The lounges provide dedicated prayer rooms and serve Arabic coffee, dates and sweets in addition to buffet spreads for iftar and suhoor. Dates and water will also be offered at the boarding gates of select flights.
Emirates’ award-winning ice system will feature special religious programming from May. This includes the religious animated series, The Prophets; informative programmes such as Ramadan in the Islamic World, Al Alam Bayn Fotour wa Sohour and Men Raheeq Al Iman; as well as Khawater Ramadaneya, a programme based on the poems of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Arabic audiobooks including Ahmad Al Shugairi’s Thoughts of a Young Man and Sultan Al-Mousa’s The Perfect Woman and Arabic programmes such as Hala Kazem and 3×1 have also been added.
The special Ramadan programmes are part of the diverse content available on board with over 4,000 channels of on demand entertainment. With such a broad array of entertainment, customers can create their own playlists of music, movies and TV shows on the Emirates app ahead of their flight and sync it to their seats once on board to maximise their enjoyment time.
Eid on board
To mark the end of Ramadan, Emirates customers can look forward to a special offering for Eid.
From 4 to 6 June, customers can look forward to sweet treats on select flights. First and Business Class customers can sample a selection of special ice-cream flavours such as Dates, Cinnamon Baklava or Arabic Coffee with Dates throughout Ramadan and Eid. In addition, First Class customers can enjoy a special Eid edition of the Lakrids candy. Lakrids Crispy Rose flavoured liquorice will be offered on all flights regions during Ramadan and Eid. In select airport lounges in Dubai, there will be special coffee flavours for Eid from Coffee Planet including Cinnamon Flat White, Dates Latte and Arabic coffee served with Medjool dates.
As a global airline, Emirates has been delighting customers’ palates with regionally-inspired cuisine, and special seasonal menus for global events like Chinese New Year, Holi, Easter, and Hanami-inspired menus during the cherry blossom season. Its signature Ramadan service with special iftar meals has been a mainstay for over 20 years and illustrates the airline’s commitment to providing customers a comfortable journey throughout the holy month.
