Live TV goes sky high

Qatar Airways are to offer their European and Middle Eastern passengers live digital satellite TV on flights from the end of this year.

The carrier will be the first international airline to offer this service which will be available on 14 of their aircraft on services within and between the Middle East and Europe.

Programmes to be broadcast to passengers' individual seatback TV systems include, Al Jazeera, BBC World, EuroNews, CNN International, TV5, EuroSport News, MBC and Disney Channel.

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways chief executive, commented: "We have been successfully trialling live TV for sometime and are extremely pleased to be able to now offer this wonderful, unique service to passengers on selected aircraft.

"We continue to look at ways to improve our service levels to passengers and by offering a variety of entertainment options, we also set new standards of comfort to ensure we are the airline of choice."

Qatar Airways currently flies to 70 destinations worldwide from its Doha hub with a fleet of 48 Airbus aircraft, offering individual seatback TV screens through economy, business and first class.

• Less than a week until Esta launch
• US connecting flights proving popular at Bristol Airport
• Record year for London City Airport
• Virgin Atlantic to celebrate 25th year
• Record passenger growth for Etihad in 2008
• KLM to turn 90 this year
• Continental to launch new Heathrow flights
• Aer Lingus to launch flights from Gatwick Airport
• British Airways orders 11 new aircraft
• Milestone reached in Birmingham Airport pier project