With the start of the holy month of Ramadan, Emirates has introduced several initiatives to ensure the wellbeing and comfort of fasting customers. In support of our passengers observing Ramadan, Emirates has developed a unique tool to calculate the correct timings for imsak and iftar while in-flight. The tool, claimed to be an industry-first, was developed in conjunction with the Dubai Astronomy Group and allows Emirates to calculate the exact Ramadan timings using the aircraft's longitude, latitude and even altitude, thus ensuring the greatest level of accuracy possible while onboard. For example, passengers who are in-flight when the sun sets will be informed of the iftar time by the captain. Iftar will be determined based on where the aircraft is located at the time the sun goes down. This new tool was developed to supplement Emirates annually produced booklet on the timings for Ramadan, available on every flight. Additionally, Emirates' in-flight catering team has developed a special menu for passengers observing Ramadan. For flights departing close to iftar, Emirates will provide small snack boxes at the boarding gates of Emirates Terminal 3, while large iftar meal boxes will be served to fasting passengers in-flight. “The holy month of Ramadan is an important time on the Islamic calendar, and we are committed to ensuring that our Muslim passengers are well looked after as they undertake their religious obligations,” said Robin Padgett, Emirates VP for aircraft catering. “We have great respect for the cultural diversity of our customers, and our non-fasting passengers will continue to enjoy the world-class meals Emirates is globally known for.” Non-fasting passengers traveling on Umrah, Madinah and Jeddah flights will receive a cold meal instead of the regular hot meal for all flights taking off after sunrise and before sunset, in respect to the many Muslim passengers completing Umrah on these flights. From: Arabnews