Emirates Airline has announced the launch of Vision Beijing - a series of Beijing Olympic promotional films - onboard Emirates’ Information, Communication and Entertainment (ice) system, starting July 2008.Vision Beijing, which took more than two years to prepare, comprises five short films about the city in the run up to the Beijing Olympic Games and aims to promote ancient Beijing’s image as a modern international metropolis. Each film offers insights into Beijing’s history and culture and runs just over five minutes long.

Vision Beijing will fly with Emirates to audiences in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Australasia. The Emirates global network spans more than 100 destinations in over 60 countries. In the United States, Emirates operates twice-daily non-stop flights from New York’s JFK, a daily non-stop flight from Houston, and will be introducing non-stop service from Los Angeles on October 1st and from San Francisco on November 20th.  Emirates recently announced the inaugural flight of its first A380, which will commence commercial operations on the Dubai to New York route on August 1st.

Emirates operates a young and modern fleet of 117 aircraft, of which over 55% are equipped with the cutting-edge ice system which offers up to 1,000 channels of inflight entertainment on demand. Vision Beijing programs will be broadcast during July and August on all Emirates flights featuring the ice system.

Mr. Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ Vice President, Passenger Communications and Visual Services said: “It is our great pleasure to broadcast Vision Beijing on Emirates’ ice system. These films provide our well-traveled audience with interesting insights into the city’s history and culture, and highlight Beijing as a modern international metropolis. I believe our passengers will enjoy Vision Beijing, regardless of their final destination.”

Catering to Emirates’ international mix of passengers, Vision Beijing will be broadcast in English with Chinese subtitles. Emirates has also prepared an English synopsis for passengers to review.

Ms. Zhang Wenzhou, Deputy Director of the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Center, the organizer of Vision Beijing, commented: “We are delighted that Emirates has decided to broadcast these film masterpieces created by five world-famous directors. We believe Emirates passengers will welcome and appreciate these films. The confidence, passion and energy of Beijing citizens will be widely recognized by the international society.”

Having secured a number of onboard industry firsts since its launch in 1985, Emirates provides one of the most comprehensive and state-of-the-art audio-visual services in the skies. New innovations and refinements are being implemented on a regular basis.

Emirates currently operates double daily services to Beijing and Shanghai and on July 1st, it launched six services a week to Guangzhou.
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