Dubai-
March 11 Reflecting the spirit of togetherness and generosity during the Holy Month of Ramadhan, Emirates will be serving thousands of meal boxes for passengers who are fasting both onboard and at boarding gates, screening an array of religious content and popular TV shows on the entertainment service on board, and serving specialized Ramadhan dishes in the lounges.
At the Emirates lounges in Dubai International Airport (DXB), Arabic sweets, dates and coffee will be offered during Ramadhan. Meals available in First and Business Class lounges will include a selection of hot and cold Arabic mezze, lentil soup, main courses of Arabic mixed grill with tahina, chicken kabsa served with dakous and raita, and desserts of kunafa pistachio cream, basboussa saffron, walnut kathayef ashta and ice cream flavours of Arabic coffee and dates or baklawa, alongside a host of sweets and pastries. Emirates lounges are also equipped with dedicated prayer rooms and ablution facilities to ensure a peaceful environment for worship.
For fasting customers at select Emirates Boarding Gates during iftar time, there are complimentary iftar boxes to help break the fast – containing water, laban, a banana, and dates.
To ensure the highest levels of accuracy for fasting Muslim passengers, Emirates uses a unique tool to calculate the correct timings for imsak (the time to commence fasting) and iftar while in-flight, based on the times of the sunrise and sunset of the location the flight is passing by using the aircraft’s longitude, latitude, and altitude. When the sun sets, passengers will be officially informed of the iftar time by the captain.
Customers breaking their fast across all cabin classes to select destinations will be offered nutritionally balanced Ramadhan meal boxes. Iftar meals will be served in bespoke boxes, designed by Emirates to represent the rich Emirati heritage of the Al Sadu weavers. This traditional community weaving practised by Bedouin women of the UAE produce accessories in distinctive geometric patterns, reflecting the community aspect of the Holy Month.
Ramadhan meal boxes include light bites from hummus with spinach and Arabic bread, to tabbouleh with baba ghanoush, alongside sandwiches of Moroccan or zaatar chicken with pickled garlic mayonnaise, and some sweet treats of almond chocolate or Arabic baklawa, cashew nut and pine seed baklawa flowers, as well as staples like dates and refreshing laban. Emirates’ Ramadhan boxes will be served in addition to the regular hot meal service.
Specalised meal boxes are being served on flights catering to Umrah groups travelling to Jeddah and Medina during the month of Ramadhan. Passengers are entitled to check in one bottle of Islamic holy water ‘Zamzam’ containing up to five litres per person at Dubai International Airport (DXB) and various airports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
For the duration of the Holy Month, Emirates’ entertainment service ‘ice’ will feature special religious content including Rehlet Hayat, Qawafel Al Samaa, Hom Al Omr, Fatawa and Al Ayyam Al Khaliya in Arabic. In Urdu, ice will feature Ramadan Mah e Rehmat,
Niyamat-E-Ramadan, Mahe Ramadhan as well as Ramzan Mehfil-E-Zikr in Hindi. The Holy Qur’an is also available on ice.
Popular series and dramas will be available such as Seeb Wa Ana Aseeb, Safah Al Giza and El Ghareeb as well as AB Talks, the classic Darb el Zalag, and popular Turkish series dubbed in Arabic such as Ehtiram, Behzat and Al Hob Al Ghayr Muktam.
Emirates provides Ramadhan awareness training for its cabin crew and on ground teams in Dubai and across its network. Special training resources have been provided to ensure operational teams are aware of the Holy Month, understand the cultural.
significance and nuances of this time and recognise specific practices that Muslims engage in, so they are prepared to provide the highest levels of service to customers throughout their travel journey.