Emirates introduce MIRA, scaling VR training to it growing cabin crew numbers
Virtual reality training has the unique ability to replicate a working environment as a fully immersive training simulation, separating trainees from their surroundings and allowing them to focus on the XR procedures at hand.
This allows trainees to gain valuable skills without risking their safety, causing equipment damage, or shutting down working environments for training needs.
Global businesses are already deeply integrating XR into training programmes. Most recently, airline company Emirates employed VR immersive learning to help its 23,000 cabin crew workers understand and complete its SEP (Safety & Emergency Procedures) training programmes.
Capt Bader Al Marzooqi, Emirates’ Senior Vice President of Flight Training, said the firm uses VR learning to prime “our crew for the airline’s next era of growth and expansion by integrating the latest innovations with our leadership, best practices, and excellence in training.”
The scale of Emirates’ training is clearly set to reach a large number of professionals, with scalability already in mind.
Al Marzooqi explained:
With our ambitious growth roadmap – 315 aircraft on order and 30,000 cabin crew numbers by 2030 – effective and efficient SEP training is an absolute must. With MIRA, we can now quickly and significantly scale up our crew training to meet business demands. This is a bold, brave and strategic move which has shaped our training ethos for the future.
Introducing MIRA
Emirates started its VR journey last year, creating MIRA, an immersive learning platform that aims to upskill new and experienced employees.
The MIRA platform leverages 3D virtual hubs to enable self-guided immersive training and simulation of Airbus A380, Boeing 777, and Airbus A350 interiors, which Emirates states are fully modelled, including emergency slides, tarmac, airbridges, and exteriors.
Moreover, the MIRA platform supports multi-user training procedures [between 8 and 10 trainees at a time], allowing various headset-equipped trainees to jump into a single virtual training session as backup crew members, replicating a real cabin working environment.
While the MIRA platform is set to scale across the Emirates workforce, it is starting by supporting two critical onboard safety operations: aircraft door operations and mid-flight fire-fighting.
Emirates notes that these high-risk situations require annual recurrent SEP training, and the firm seems to be turning to VR to secure an affordable and repeatable solution to meet this demanding expectation, alognside matching the 2030 employee uptick, as stated by Al Marzooqi.
Emirates is currently rolling out its recurrent SEP training and plans to build upon it, optimise immersive learning assets, and secure a “holistic end-to-end” training experience for its cabin crew employees.
Empowering Mentors and Trainers with VR
Emirates trainees are not the only professionals becoming empowered thanks to MIRA. The training program presents tools to trainers and mentors to distribute skills for the company’s large-scale cabin crew workforce.
Emirates training mentors can teach groups of professionals in three virtual reality modules: Teach, Practice, and Assessment. These modules aim to bring flexible learning to workers despite time or location hurdles.
The MIRA platform is accessible via a headset, or workers can access a 2D version of the learning service via mobile devices, laptops, and desktops at home. Therefore, it reduces the need to travel to VR specialist spaces, matching the tight schedule of cabin crew workers.
Emirates also notes that the interoperable approach helps to reduce the cost and reliance on maintaining complex physical training facilities, interiors, and equipment.
Moreover, on the mentor-facing side of things, MIRA integrates a series of metrics to help with trainee assessment and refinement of training programmes.
Forecasts indicate that VR headset usage may be on the decline, with interest in AR and MR services inclining. VR training use cases like the Emirates MIRA platform showcase that VR has the flexibility to co-exist as a valuable tool for businesses.
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