AirAsia trains staff to combat illegal wildlife trafficking

AirAsia is partnering with wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC to give specific role-based training to selected staff who may come in close contact with illegal wildlife trade in their line of work. This includes cargo and ground handlers, cabin crew, and guest services. 

The collaboration comes after TRAFFIC held an awareness talk for AirAsia employees recently in Kuala Lumpur, with the aim of raising awareness on illegal wildlife trafficking in the aviation sector. During the talk, AirAsia staff were introduced to ways wildlife traffickers smuggle illegal wildlife through the aviation sector, and how they can help combat and reduce these activities. A mini-exhibition was also displayed to educate about objects that are frequently smuggled, devices used to smuggle and hide them, as well as demonstrations on how it is done.

Shasha Ridzam, AirAsia group head of government relations, global affairs and sustainability, said the awareness talk reflects on its commitment to ensuring that its actions and decisions create positive outcomes for a better world, adding that sustainability is one of its key values. She added that AirAsia will continue to train its staff to improve in its detection of illegal activities in the aviation industry.

"AirAsia is playing a crucial part in raising awareness on the key issues and challenges surrounding illegal wildlife trade. The danger of vanishing animals that future generations will never see lies in our generation. We are committed to playing our part to combat this issue," she added.

AirAsia has launched a few other initiatives as part of its sustainability efforts in the past year. Last November, it launched its "Save our Malayan Tiger" aircraft livery. According to a press release, the livery forms part of AirAsia's ongoing sustainability efforts to support conservation and environmental programmes, and aims to encourage millions of people to pledge their support for the cause.

Additionally, AirAsia's employees also visited the National Wildlife Rescue Center in Sungkai, Perak in October 2019. The airline also helped to push the Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources environmental campaigns by sponsoring return flights for 10 orang asli (aboriginal people) to attend the Hutan Kita exhibition launch in August 2019.

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