Qatar Airways steps into metaverse with ‘QVerse’ VR, world’s first ‘MetaHuman’ cabin crew

Qatar Airways entered the metaverse on Friday by launching QVerse, a novel virtual reality (VR) experience for visitors to the airline’s website.

Users of the www.qatarairways.com/QVerse website can now virtually tour and navigate the Premium Check-in area at Hamad International Airport (HIA), the cabin interior of the airline’s aircraft, including the award-winning Business Class - Qsuite, and the Economy Class cabin, by using their own Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs).

The national carrier of Qatar is also the first global airline to introduce a ‘MetaHuman’ cabin crew offering a digital interactive customer experience.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive HE Akbar al-Baker said: “With physical boundaries beginning to be challenged by the metaverse on an increasingly larger scale, it is exciting to embrace a technology that enables all travel enthusiasts to enjoy a uniquely immersive experience of our award-winning products and services.

The experience was developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, the world’s most advanced real-time 3D creation tool, and MetaHuman Creator, a cloud-based app for creating high-fidelity digital humans.

Qatar Airways is the first global airline to introduce a MetaHuman cabin crew, featuring a digitally-created high-fidelity 3D human model named ‘Sama’, whose name is of Arabic origin and translates to ‘sky’.

‘Sama’ offers an interactive customer experience through engagement with the user, taking them on a virtual journey of discovery, while presenting the unique features in both the Business and Economy Class cabins through a narrated script.

A multiple award-winning airlines, Qatar Airways was announced as the ‘Airline of the Year' by the international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax, in addition to securing five additional awards, including World’s Best Business Class, World’s Best Business Class Airline Lounge, World’s Best Business Class Airline Seat, World’s Best Business Class Onboard Catering and Best Airline in the Middle East.

Source: Gulf Times