Air Canada has announced an expansion of its inflight entertainment offering, which has seen content increase by 50 per cent on selected aircraft.
The carrier has launched partnerships with Crave, Bell Media’s premium entertainment service, and Stingray, Canadian-based multi-platform audio service.
The agreement sees the choice of IFE content increase on “many” of Air Canada’s B777s and B787s, as well as on subsidiary Air Canada Rouge’s A319s, A321s and B767s.
The airline’s A330 aircraft will also be upgraded later this year.
New programmes include Billions, Ray Donovan and The Affair, as well as Crave original comedy Letterkenny and Comedy Central’s Broad City.
Meanwhile Stingray will provide a wider range of music content, including concerts, documentaries, video playlists, artist interviews and award show coverage.
A new IFE system interface will also allow customers to browse in 15 languages.
Air Canada says that the partnerships will see it offer over 1,000 hours of entertainment – more than any other airline in the Americas, and enough to keep passengers busy for the duration of 72 flights between Toronto and Hong Kong.
Commenting on the news Andrew Yiu, vice president of product at Air Canada, said:
“Air Canada will be the only carrier to offer full seasons of Crave programming, while music lovers will be able to enjoy a much wider array of songs and genres from top artists through Stingray.
“Additionally, Air Canada is significantly boosting the selection of movies and television shows it currently offers on its newest mainline wide-body and narrow-body aircraft types.
“These upgrades will give customers, including those on our longest flights, greater choice than ever before, with access to full season boxsets of shows such as How I Met Your Mother, full collections of movie franchises including Harry Potter and the Matrix, more new releases from Disney and expanded content from HBO.
“To help customers select and manage their entertainment options, we are also progressively introducing a new user interface that will be easier to navigate and available in 15 languages.”
