BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has announced Gulf Air as the launch Middle Eastern airline of BBC Knowledge, a BBC-branded channel featuring award-winning factual and non-fiction content. 

 

Available through Gulf Air’s ‘Skyhub’ inflight entertainment system, the channel will showcase experts including Sir David Attenborough, James May, Bruce Parry, Brian Cox, Richard Hammond, Louis Theroux, Stephen Fry, Simon Reeve and Ray Mears. 

 

The new channel will be rolling out across the airline’s fleet of 26 aircraft in the coming weeks. 

 

BBC Worldwide’s director of Travel & Special Markets, Zina Neophytou, said, “We’re delighted to be launching BBC Knowledge on Gulf Air and to be part of its branded channel line-up onboard. With such a vast range of quality content available from BBC Worldwide, we welcome opportunities to build partnerships in the travel arena to create bespoke channel environments which reflect our international portfolio – BBC Knowledge, as well as CBeebies, BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and BBC World News.”

 

Gulf Air’s chief operating officer, Captain Nasser Al Salmi, said the Bahraini national carrier is committed to improving all aspects of its products and services both on the ground and in the air. 

 

"The addition of BBC Knowledge to ‘Skyhub’ will further enhance our on-board entertainment offering passengers access to even more hours of high-quality, award-winning content. In our experience quality is king for today’s passengers which is why BBC knowledge was a natural channel for us to choose to boost our overall entertainment," he stated.

 

Programming available on Gulf Air will include the astonishing Africa, the inspirational Space Dive and international favourite, Top Gear.

 

BBC Knowledge provides a breathtaking mix of factual and non-fiction programming from natural history to science, technology, adventure and history.  Other highlights include Our Queen, Polar Bear Family & Me, Great Barrier Reef, Snow Babies and James May’s Things You Need to Know (series two).

 

The channel reaches 21 million homes around the world, in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and South Africa.-TradeArabia News Service