ETW Staff– Mumbai
Passengers on board Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, can enjoy every FIFA World Cup football match ‘live’ on all of their long haul aircraft during the month long tournament, the globe’s biggest sporting event. The final will be played on July 13, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro when the global television audience for this single match alone is estimated to reach more than one billion people.
All 64 games will be transmitted live at 30,000 feet on the airline’s modern, wide-bodied fleet of planes by IMG Media using Etihad Airways’ state-of-the-art interactive inflight entertainment system, E-box, powered by Panasonic technology. The E-box screens are installed in seats for every class of cabin – first, business and economy.
Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer, Etihad Airways, said, “The FIFA World Cup is the biggest and most exciting sporting event in the world and I’m delighted that all of our guests will be able to watch every match while they fly with us on their long-haul business or holiday flights. I hope that they sit back, relax and enjoy the great football action.”
Etihad Airways’ non-stop daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Sao Paulo have been in operation since June and there has been great demand from British, Dutch and Belgian expatriates living in the UAE capital and connecting markets because their national teams are playing matches in the Brazilian city in the next two weeks.
