Air New Zealand to broadcast RWC games live, Emirates lands an astronaut

With just over a week until the Rugby World Cup kicks off, Air New Zealand has scored a deal to show games live aboard their widebody aircraft.

Passengers flying on the carrier’s Boeing 787 and 777 fleet will be able to tune into matches via the Sport 24 channel provided by Panasonic Avionics.

The new channel is being ‘rolled out progressively’ across the mid-to-long haul routes, hopefully in time for the opening match of the Webb Ellis Cup in Paris, which starts Saturday week at 7:15am.

The Airline’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty encourages AB’s fans to tune in but remind passengers not everyone is a sports fan.

“We know many of our customers are passionate sports supporters, but there are a few guidelines we recommend keeping in mind, like staying onside in your seat and keeping neighbours in mind when celebrating.”

It will certainly change the mood of the bleary red-eye flights. Friday’s NZ6 which will touch down in Los Angeles just ahead of full time at Stade France, at 1:20pm pacific time.

While most of Air New Zealand’s long-haul Boeing Services next week will not coincide with New Zealand’s opener against France, arriving in Auckland just before an early kick off, at least there will be insurance for delays in the air.

While the first live sport broadcast was demonstrated two decades ago, aboard a 2003 Lufthansa service from Frankfurt to Washington, the connection was not always the greatest. Today, you can trust your set to not cut-out mid penalty.

Air New Zealand is ready to join the top flight of sport-centric airlines.

That moment for women’s sport ❤️⚽️👑🦘 pic.twitter.com/vCgv9m4vxM

— Jacqueline Felgate (@Jacquifelgate) August 12, 2023

Emirates raises the bar for live inflight entertainment

Emirates, already a customer of Panasonic and Sport 24, was broadcasting live games during the Recent Women’s Football World Cup. A video clip of the Matilda’s historic victory against France, taken aboard a flight from Dubai to Australia caught the moment an entire A380 erupted in applause. (Apart from one passenger, who continued to watch The Lord of the Rings.)

Live sports and entertainment has already proven itself as a quantity on passenger airlines.

However Emirates says it intends to push the envelope with more live entertainment broadcast from flights.

Tomorrow, September 1, passengers flying on the Emirates network can tune into a live interview with an Emirati astronaut from the International Space Station.

The interview with Dr AlNeyadi 400km above the planet may not have the same immediate gravitational pull as a rugby international - but it’s proof that airlines see a future in live entertainment mid-flight. There is no shortage of things they won’t try to bust boredom on long-haul flights.

It’s one small step for broadcast, one giant 14,000 km flight to Dubai.

For one flight only: Weirdest live inflight entertainment

Live entertainment is nothing new aboard airliners.

Since Pan Am vamped up their 747 flights with a lounge piano, there have been attempts at bringing live music and shows aboard passenger planes.

In 2012 low-cost carrier VietJetAir advertised (and was subsequently fined for) a live bikini show on their flights to Hanoi.

Air New Zealand has hosted the musical ‘Flight 660′ from Auckland to Dunedin with live entertainment from the band Six60. In February this year, mid-air drag show

However the trend in inflight entertainment is towards individualism and individual choice. Airlines have moved from shared screenings to personal inflight entertainment systems.

With the arrival of inflight Wi-Fi from cluster satellite providers OneWeb and Starlink, passenger’s access to entertainment has only grown, while their screens shrunk.

Live sport fixtures and event entertainment might be a shift to this trend.