APEX Awards 2026: Emirates wins best entertainment and world class recognition
Airline entertainment system ice voted world’s best by passengers
DUBAI – Emirates has added another chapter to its record of achievements, taking home two major awards at the APEX/IFSA Global EXPO held in Long Beach, California.
The Dubai-based airline was recognised with the 2026 APEX Best Global Entertainment Award for its celebrated inflight system, ice, and the 2026 APEX WORLD CLASS award for overall excellence across customer experience and brand. These latest accolades reflect the airline’s consistent leadership in service, technology and passenger satisfaction.
Award-winning entertainment
Selected from a pool of more than 600 airlines worldwide, Emirates secured the APEX Best Global Entertainment award based on one million verified passenger votes. The airline’s ice system continues to set benchmarks, offering more than 6,500 channels of entertainment and information. The library includes up to 2,000 movies, 650 television shows, and 4,000 hours of music, podcasts and audiobooks in 40 languages.
Ice features premium partnerships with platforms such as HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Food Network, Discovery+, BBC Earth, Shahid, HGTV, Nickelodeon and Spotify. Passengers also enjoy live television on five dedicated channels covering news and sport, while the onboard airshow provides real-time flight progress and views from external cameras at 40,000 feet.
Adding to its entertainment credentials, Emirates is investing over US$350 million (Dh1.3 billion) in next-generation inflight systems across its 50 new Airbus A350 aircraft. These will feature Thales’ AVANT Up technology with Optiq 4k QLED HDR displays, triple content capacity, enhanced connectivity, user-friendly interfaces and expanded live television options.
World class recognition
For the sixth year running, Emirates has secured the APEX WORLD CLASS award, first introduced in 2021. The accolade recognises excellence across multiple categories including safety, sustainability, service, food and beverage, personalisation, comfort and connectivity. The award is independently audited by aviation professionals on real flights, underscoring its industry credibility.
These achievements add to a growing list of international recognition for Emirates. The airline recently topped The Telegraph Travel Awards 2025 as the ‘Best Long Haul Airline’, voted by 20,000 readers, and was also named among YouGov’s ‘Most Recommended Global Brands’ for 2025, being the only airline to make the list.