Technology revolution reshaping flying experience

Dubai: Visitors stepping into the Emirates Pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai are offered an orb, appropriately called 'seed', as they are introduced to the future of commercial aviation, with a multi-sensory experience at a simulated futuristic aircraft journey being the highlight for most members of the crowd.

With the aviation sector navigating a number of challenges, the leading international airline at its pavilion offers a peek into the coming decades of air travel where science and technology will continue to define its journey with an enhanced experience for travellers. Its 'Cleaner Skies' installation is an immersive experience that demonstrates how future innovations are directly linked to some of the world's biggest challenges such as sustainability, population growth and technological advancements, and visitors will also be able to challenge each other in an interactive quiz about aviation technologies being developed to tackle the challenges of tomorrow, an official statement said.

Visitors also put their knowledge to the test and design and fly their own personalised, futuristic aircraft through an ultra-haptic interface. They can build their aircraft using elements like range, type of engine, wings, and livery, run it through a flight simulator, and get instant feedback on their design decisions, it noted.

Emirates visualises the airport of the future for visitors to learn how biometrics, data analytics and smart technologies will transform the passenger experience on the ground, and visitors can fully immerse themselves by donning interactive virtual reality headsets that allow them to explore aircraft interior cabins of the future.

"They can to navigate a virtual fuselage's interactive windows, go windowless, and even see different types of cabins and seating configurations," it said. For many visitors, the view of the outside from futuristic aircraft and airports coupled with the in-flight entertainment experience, an evolution of the present facilities, was a major draw at the pavilion at the Expo, which started in October and will run till March next year. Construction on the Emirates Pavilion had begun in March 2019 and was completed in June 2021, the statement said, adding that during its design and construction phases, it followed several sustainability principles, using non-hazardous, regional, reusable and recyclable materials in its overall structure and incorporated different design solutions to reduce energy and water consumption.