Emirates received global recognition yesterday at the APEX/IFSA Global EXPO in Long Beach, California, winning two distinguished awards - the APEX Best™ Global Entertainment Award 2026 for its ice in-flight entertainment system and the APEX WORLD CLASS™ Award 2026 for all aspects of the airline's customer experience and brand.
Emirates Ice Complex receives APEX Best™ Global Entertainment Award 2026
Out of a list of more than 600 airlines worldwide, Emirates was awarded the APEX Best Global Entertainment 2026 award based on one million verified passenger votes. Emirates ice has long been considered the world's largest media library in the sky, providing customers with more than 6,500 channels of diverse entertainment and information. In its vast library, customers can choose from 2000 movies, 650 TV shows and 4000 hours of music, podcasts and audiobooks in 40 languages. Ice has partnered with all the top providers including HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Food Network, CBeebies, Discovery+, BBC, Bloomberg Originals, Shahid, BBC Earth, Animal Planet, HGTV, Nickelodeon, and Spotify to provide trending and relevant content. Ice also offers 5 live channels covering sporting events and news, and provides updates, news headlines, flight schedules, and in-flight air shows to follow the progress of the flight and see the world from 40,000 feet through external cameras.
Emirates will also begin installing the new Thales AVANT Up system on its fleet of 50 new Airbus A350s. With an investment of more than US$350 million, the next-generation entertainment system on board the Emirates A350 offers a suite of groundbreaking and innovative features. The revolutionary technology includes Optiq 4k QLED HDR displays, the ability to host three times the amount of content, better live TV options, innovative user interfaces and improved passenger connectivity.
Emirates receives APEX WORLD CLASS™ 2026 award for the sixth consecutive year
Introduced in 2021, this is the sixth consecutive year that Emirates has received the APEX WORLD CLASS™ award for its suite of products and services that are popular with customers around the world. Emirates was recognized and identified as a world-class airline across all categories, including safety and wellbeing, sustainability, service and guest experience, food and beverage, brand integrity, hospitality, personalization, comfort, connectivity and more. The APEX WORLD CLASS™ award is the highest achievement verified by industry experts during real-time, live flights.
The APEX WORLD CLASS™ 2026 award is further evidence of Emirates' promise to "fly better" for customers and builds on numerous other awards received in recent months. Emirates has been named Best Airline for Long-Haul at The Telegraph Travel Awards 2025. The airline, recognized for its world-class products, exceptional services and unrivaled travel experience, was voted the world's best long-haul carrier by 20,000 Telegraph Travel readers. Emirates continues to be the airline of choice for customers around the world and was also recognized as the "Most Recommended Global Brand of 2025" by YouGov, the only airline to make the top 10 on the global list.
