Etihad Airways has been training flight attendants to be 'flying nannies' for small children on long flights.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 300 cabin crew have already been trained at childcare specialist Norland College in Britain, and by the end of this year, 500 will be onboard flights of the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates.
The airline said the flying nannies have been educated in child psychology and sociology to identify different behaviours and developmental stages of the children to address the needs of travelling families.
According to the report, the airline will be serving children's meals earlier, milk bottles will be refilled on board and snacks will be provided for the next phase of their journey.
Other facilities will include use of inflight items, such as paper to teach origami to young children, in order to distract them, the report added.
The airline also said that family rooms with books, toys, a children's menu and qualified nannies will be setup for its first and business class passengers at its Abu Dhabi hub to watch offspring, while parents take a break.
Singapore Airlines, on the contrary, recently introduced a child-free "silent" zone, following AirAsia X's quiet zone, which bans under-12 children from entering restricted zones.
