The air transport industry has been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19. Against this background of global passenger traffic drop, Emirates airline chose to do what it does best: differentiate itself through a premium product, and a user experience of the highest standard.

That's why Emirates entered 2021 betting on the launch of its new Premium Economy class for the first time in the airline's history. And it wanted to showcase that class, and the rest of its fleet, in the best possible way: through a 360º multi-channel strategy based on 3D and VR content in both seat selection and virtual tours, and even being the first airline in the world to have an app in the Oculus Store.

Product quality, graphic quality and user experience go hand in hand in this project which, once again, has positioned Emirates as a world leader in the use of this technology.

The project covers the implementation in different touchpoints of the customer journey (virtual tours in the "Discovery" phase, 3D seat selection in booking, check-in and Manage Your Booking), for all Emirate's digital channels, as well as the Oculus app, on a global scale.

Virtual tours can be accessed from a new landing page created to publicise this project. On this page you can access the new photorealistic Premium Economy tours, as well as the tours of the rest of the classes, which have been completely renovated, allowing real 3D free movement thanks to the development of a generation engine that mixes "low-poly" 3D models with high-definition immersive images. It's compatible with any type of device, accessible and efficient.

This is the first time that this technology is used for virtual tours on the web. It offers innumerable advantages since it's computer-generated instead of based on photographs (efficiency in implementation, ease of subsequent changes, customisation of the look&feel...).

As for 3D seat selection, Emirates was the first airline worldwide to use it, and has now enhanced it to include the new class in booking, check-in and Manage Your Booking.

The application in Oculus Store, meanwhile, allows the user to explore Emirates' fleet, feeling on board its aircrafts. Emirates is the first airline worldwide to have an app in the Oculus Store.

More than 9 months of work have been invested to create the 3D content, the VR app, the generation engine and the integration of the different elements.

Thanks to this project, the importance of the brand has been boosted, and its position consolidated, defining a new standard of quality in Premium Economy class, and a new paradigm for the use of 3D on the web, in addition to achieving a leading position in the most important VR application store worldwide.