Emirates has unveiled a suite of new services and products to enhance accessibility. The enhanced offerings include a new Accessible & Inclusive Travel Hub available on the airline’s website, providing a wealth of information for travellers with varying accessibility requirements and enabling them to plan their journey by specific need. Emirates has also revealed new onboard sensory products and fidget toys for children and adults, and an array of process enhancements across the inflight experience, as well as improved on-ground features in its hub of Dubai, and several innovative and future-focused ideas that are currently in development.
The Accessible & Inclusive Travel Hub is designed to contain all the information needed for accessible and inclusive travel, featuring accessibility-friendly navigation that allows customers to find information easily and explore the many ways that Emirates can provide travel assistance and support. Emirates’ Accessible & Inclusive Travel Hub will continue to evolve and grow to meet customer needs.
Emirates has designed a range of sensory products and fidget toys for customers of all ages that will be available onboard in all cabin classes, from 1 November 2025. Sensory products and fidget toys are widely recognised for their ability to offer controlled stimulation for neurodivergent minds, allowing an overstimulated system to calm and rebalance. To support customers in this situation, Emirates has designed a tactile stress reliever in the style of an aircraft, two types of fidget cube and a branded aircraft rubber popper. The items will be given to passengers who are neurodiverse, anyone who is struggling onboard, and even to nervous flyers if appropriate.
In Business Class, Emirates has introduced a new product and process improvement designed to positively impact customers with accessibility requirements – a new ‘mattress hood’. This is an enhancement to Emirates’ existing mattress for customers who wish to relax or sleep in Business Class – where the new mattress now has a built in ‘hood’ which attaches the mattress to the seat more firmly – similar to a fitted sheet. As the mattress is now more secure on the seat, it no longer needs to be collected by cabin crew before landing. For customers with severe mobility disabilities who prefer not to be moved mid-flight, this will be a significant improvement to comfort onboard.
Emirates is committed to setting industry standards and accessibility for people with disabilities and now offers over 600 movies with ‘Closed Captions’ and 200 movies with ‘Audio Description’, offering accessibility to customers with visual impairment. Emirates headphones are also compatible with hearing aids when set to the ‘T’ position. To alleviate anxiety or enhance relaxation, there are 12 channels of Wellbeing TV and 31 channels of Happiness and Wellbeing podcasts and playlists, including meditations and soothing sounds.
Onboard Emirates latest aircraft, the Airbus A350-900, a new user interface on its entertainment system – ice – has been designed in partnership with Thales and advocacy groups for customers with visual impairment, to ensure all customers have an intuitive, high quality inflight entertainment experience. This imparts best practice experiences for customers who are blind or with low vision, including audio-cue navigation assistance, voice metadata feedback, touch and swipe gesturing support and presents a large selection of audio-descriptive content.
