Angry Birds are hitching a ride on airplanes

Rovio Entertainment‘s Angry Birds are going airborne. Today the company announced a partnership with Global Eagle Entertainment to use the Angry Birds mobile-gaming franchise in inflight entertainment on airliners.

The deal shows that mobile games are just beginning to become really mobile. After all, how could anyone be deprived of their dose of Angry Birds just because they can’t use a smartphone on an airplane?

Global Eagle Entertainment is a big travel industry connectivity provider in Los Angeles. And Rovio says that Angry Birds is the most downloaded mobile game of all time, with more than 2.8 billion downloads across all types of platforms.

Global Eagle will customize Angry Birds for seat-back entertainment systems and market the games to customers. Global Eagle has a catalog of more than 150 titles in its Air Games portfolio and 20 years of experience in providing casual games for airline seat displays.

The company provides licensed and in-house designed games to over 100 airlines around the world.

“Since it was first introduced, Angry Birds has grown into one of the most recognized brands in the world,” said Alexis Steinman, the senior vice president of digital products at Global Entertainment, in a statement. “We are very excited to be able to offer our airline customers this exclusive opportunity to elevate their passenger experience offering. Angry Birds’ mischievous casual game style, engaging short gameplay, and international appeal make it an ideal addition to an airline’s entertainment lineup.”

“In the last five years, Angry Birds have been spreading their wings to every corner of the world,” added Miikka Lindgren, the vice president of business development games at Rovio Entertainment, in a statement. “Thanks to our agreement with GEE, passengers will be able to take flight and join the Angry Birds on their mile-high adventures. We love the idea of entertaining in the sky.”