Children take off on Emirates with a new set of toys

From the beginning of January, they will find a brand new bumper bag of goodies to make flying fun, in addition to the airline's extenstive inflight entertainment package.

The new toys come in one of two must-have bags: a colourful rucksack (presented on flights outbound from Dubai) and a cool bag (presented on inbound flights). Each one comes in five different colour combinations.

Among them is a new soft toy exclusive to Emirates and sure to become a favourite. It's called a Querk. The Querk is an animal that loves to travel and can take on the guise of various animals from destinations around the world. This lovable character comes in a soft fabric bag with one of five costumes: Salaam the Lion, Yorkie the Eagle, Sydney the Koala, Paris the Rabbit or Delhi the Elephant.

Children will have fun dressing up the Querk and will be eager to collect the whole set. For babies and toddlers, the Querk comes in the form of a glove puppet dressed in one of the five animal costumes.

The Querk, from German manufacturer Simba Toys, will be exclusively available on Emirates flights for the next two years. It will then be retailed by the makers but the costumes given on Emirates will continue to be exclusive to the airline.

The classic stories from Dr. Seuss will also feature onboard in paperback, the result of an exclusive deal between Emirates and the publishers. Emirates will rotate 10 of the classic children's stories.

Along with the book, there's a fun and colourful magazine -e-kids - produced exclusively for Emirates' young fliers. Half of the activity book will be dedicated for readers under five and half for six to 12-year-olds. The pack includes games, colouring pencils and a cool child-size eye shade.

Terry Daly, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Service Delivery, said: "We are constantly enhancing our onboard product. For our young passengers, we have created a completely new range of toys, games, puzzles and reading material and will rotate the items so that children enjoy much more variety on every flight."

Everything has been designed in brand new colours. The new product gives children their own livery of purple, green and yellow which is applied to cutlery, tray mats, snack boxes, headset bags as well as the toy bags.

In addition to new toys, mealtime will be a special treat with a children's menu specifically designed as part of the new product.

For babies and toddlers on all routes there's a toiletry kit with wet wipes, cream, bib, teething ring and tissue pack. A more child-friendly liner for the bassinet has been designed. Baby food, formula, feeding bottles and diapers are always available, as before. For entertainment via the personal seatback television screens, children on Emirates still have their own Skyriders channel with comedy and cartoons, movies and music; and an interactive channel offering 18 games.

Emirates' A340-500s, all Boeing 777-300ERs and almost all Boeing 777-200s offer inflight entertainment on 'ice'. In addition to the Skysurfers channel, this state-of-the-art entertainment and communications system features new release family movies, Disney Classics, child-size entertainment on the World Cinema, Arabic and Comedy channels, and musicals such as The Lion King and Rudyard Kipling stories on the audio channels.

To complete their enjoyment, children can listen and watch with specially-designed kiddie-sized headsets available in bright colours.