Air Canada Teams Up With Audible To Increase Its IFE Offering

Air Canada has upgraded its inflight entertainment (IFE) offering by becoming the first airline to team up with Audible. The collaboration allows passengers traveling with the airline to listen to 160 hours of Canadian Audible Original audiobooks and podcasts.

The content is available in both English and French, with genres ranging from true crime and wellness to comedy and sports. Among the current selection are popular titles such as Sidney Crosby: The Rookie Year, Seven Truths, Women Talking, Roudoudous en laponie, and Main-Basse sur le monde.

Photo: GingChen / Shutterstock

Audible is an online service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and podcasts. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, and is based in New Jersey. The company prides itself on working with some of the country’s biggest names, as well as developing upcoming talent through its Canadian Audible Original selection.

To celebrate the launch of the partnership, Audible is offering two months of free membership to Air Canada passengers. Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Product Design at Air Canada, John Moody, said,

“We’re thrilled to announce Audible as the latest global brand to work with Air Canada as we continue to expand the in-flight entertainment choices we offer our customers. Entertainment is an important part of the in-flight experience, and with a growing interest in audio stories, the addition of inspiring and engaging articles and interviews in audio format complements the diverse range of content available in our unparalleled in-flight programming.”

Award-winning IFE

The collaboration between Audible and Air Canada will provide a further boost to the Canadian flag carrier’s IFE offering, which has already doubled in the past year. The airline now provides passengers with over 2,500 hours worth of movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts.

In 2022, Air Canada became the only Canadian carrier to offer live Canadian TV featuring English and French channels, and earlier this year, the airline announced that members of its frequent flyer program, Aeroplan, would benefit from free inflight messaging services.

Photo: ACHPF / Shutterstock

Air Canada’s improvements to its IFE offering have not gone unnoticed. The airline was recently named the Best Airline for Onboard Entertainment by Global Traveler for the fifth consecutive year, and also received the coveted Five Star Global Airline award from the Airline Passenger Experience Association.

Air Canada’s varied fleet

The Audible collection is available onboard the airline’s varied fleet of 245 aircraft. The latest data from ch-aviation.com shows that Air Canada’s current fleet is made up of a mixture of narrowbody and widebody aircraft, including 33 Airbus A220s, 40 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, and 38 787s.

Photo: Ryken Martin / Shutterstock

The airline also has a further 20 787s and 30 of Airbus’ upcoming A321XLR on order. The new aircraft will support Air Canada’s ambitious expansion plans, which include new routes from Vancouver (YVR) to Singapore (SIN) and Dubai (DXB), and Montreal (YUL) to Madrid (MAD).

What do you think of Air Canada’s partnership with Audible? Will you make use of it next time you fly on the airline? What kind of inflight entertainment do you normally enjoy? Share your thoughts by commenting below.

Source: ch-aviation.com