For customers travelling during the holy month of Ramadan Emirates has brought back its Iftar service, reports Phil Blizzard in Dubai. 

The special boxes have been re-designed and are available across all cabin classes on select flights. 

These include those to and from the Gulf region as well as Umrah groups travelling to Jeddah and Medina.

The new look boxes feature a clean and modern Arabesque design inspired by the region.

The Ramadan boxes also have a new menu designed by Emirates’ chefs and feature a Middle Eastern flavour, while remaining distinctly global.

The menu options include za’atar chicken with hummus, spinach fatayer, halloumi cheese and cucumber sandwiches.

Plus traditional sweets such as mammoul and dates, as well as yoghurt.

These Iftar boxes allow those observing Ramadan to break their fast with a nutritious and balanced meal.

The timing of Iftar and also Isak, the time to commence the fast, is calculated by an Emirates designed tool.

The tool calculates the exact Ramadan timings using the aircraft’s longitude, latitude and altitude; ensuring the greatest level of accuracy possible while on-board.

The captain can then announce these timings to passengers on-board.

This tool was developed to supplement Emirates’ annually produced booklet on the timings for Ramadan, available on every flight.

Emirates says a snack box is also available at boarding gates allowing customers to break their fast prior to boarding or while boarding.

The snack boxes will feature pastries like cheese fatayer and Arabic sweets like baklava and will be served for flights departing close to Iftar at Emirates’ hub in Dubai International Airport Terminal 3.

The Iftar services have been a mainstay on Emirates flights for over 20 years and is available during the whole month of Ramadan which began on June 6th.