To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, Emirates is highlighting critically acclaimed movies by women directors on the airline’s award-winning inflight entertainment system. Throughout the month of March, passengers can look forward to an immersive experience onboard with access to more than 120 female-directed titles from Hollywood and beyond.
Celebrating the women in Indian cinema, the visual treat includes notable titles such as The Sky is Pink (2019) and The Gully Boy (2019). The Sky is Pink is directed by avant-garde director Shonali Bose, a national award-winning filmmaker. Going beyond commercial and critical acclaim, Bose's films have always been one of the boldest female voices in Indian cinema. The Gully Boy is directed by Zoya Akhtar who has found a niche in Indian cinema with her celebrated movies.
Among the selection of movies are popular and breakthrough Hollywood titles such as The Farewell (2019), The Rider (2017), The Hurt Locker (2008), Lost in Translation (2003), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and a curated collection of acclaimed movies from foreign languages.
Outside the realm of cinema, Emirates has also posted a video to highlight how women in aviation support economies and touch lives across the world. The video follows an all-women flight deck crew operating multi-stop cargo flights across four continents on Emirates SkyCargo's Boeing 777 freighter aircraft. Captain Ellen Roz from the United States and First Officer Heidi McDiarmid from Australia cover close to 30,000 kms in 10 days on five freighter flights from Frankfurt to Mexico City, onwards to Quito, Aguadilla, Amsterdam and finally to Dubai transporting over 300 tonnes of cargo ranging from fresh flowers and fruits to pharmaceuticals. The two pilots were also joined by Captain Heather Wolf from Canada for operating the flight from Frankfurt to Mexico City.
Women constitute more than 40% of the total workforce at Emirates with the majority working as cabin crew. Emirates’ female pilots come from over 30 nationalities, covering an age range from 23 to 62 years. Women from over 160 nationalities are employed across the Emirates Group in operational roles in functions including flight operations, engineering, aircraft maintenance & appearance, catering, cargo and ramp operations; in customer-facing roles in airport services, sales and customer affairs and corporate roles across business support functions. There are nearly 3,000 Indian women at the Emirates Group, who form the largest group of women of any nationality.
The airline’s award-winning inflight entertainment system features over 4,500 channels and a wide selection of movies, including the latest Bollywood blockbusters and classic movies, and music. Last year, Emirates introduced a playlist syncing feature that allows passengers to create customised playlists from the content on ice and sync them directly to their seats once onboard. Customers can also take advantage of up to 20MB of complimentary Wi-Fi to stay connected with friends and family during the flight.