Malaysia Airlines empowers passengers to support environmental conservation efforts

Malaysia Airlines (MAB) has tied up with WWF- Malaysia to encourage and empower its passengers to support the latter's efforts to conserve habitats for wild orangutans, as well as improve the well-being of the local communities in Batang Ai by planting agarwood, also known as gaharu trees in degraded forests.

For this, the airline is encouraging its passengers to donate to the project when they make bookings on the MAB website to all destinations across international and domestic networks. Passengers can choose to donate either RM10, RM50 or RM100 to WWF-Malaysia before completing their booking.

According to WWF- Malaysia, planting gaharu trees and other native tree species in a degraded forest will provide an expanded habitat for the orangutans. At the same time, it will generate income for the local communities. 

The move is in line with Malaysian Aviation Group's (MAG) sustainability blueprint, which focuses on the United Nations' 13th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on climate action. "As corporate citizens, it is our collective responsibility to work towards a future that protects the environment and communities in which we operate," group chief sustainability officer of Malaysia Aviation Group, Philip See, explained. 

The group believes that its partnership with reputable non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as WWF-Malaysia, which is well-known for its conservation efforts at significant sites like Batang Ai, is critical to attaining its sustainability goals, he added.  

“WWF- Malaysia welcomes Malaysia Airline's support for this forest conservation project that marks the beginning of a collaboration towards reversing the loss of nature and transforming Malaysia into a sustainable nation by 2030. A sustainable nation is one that is characterised by a net zero economy, in which greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are reduced, while our forests act as a carbon sink," Henry Chan, conservation director for WWF Malaysia, said. 

Chan explained that with aviation as one of the major GHG emitters contributing to global warming, its long term engagement with Malaysia Airlines is to seek pathways that help to decarbonise aviation fuel, as well as restoring degraded forests. 

According to Malaysia Airlines, it continues to accelerate its sustainability blueprint agebda in all sectors, inspiring positive change through various initiatives. In addition to supporting the United Nations' 13th SDG (Climate Action), these initiatives target three other SGDs - Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). 

Meanwhile, MAB join other companies such as Agoda in collaborating with WWF to support its restoration and conservation efforts. For instance, Agoda and WWF- Singapore partnered in June to launch a campaign in support of the latter's marine habitat restoration efforts.

As part of the campaign, WWF-Singapore, Agoda, and Agoda's hotel and accommodation partners funded efforts to raise awareness about responsible tourism, enabling the restoration of marine habitats in Southeast Asia, and protecting widlife affected by floods in Australia. As such, the campaign was aimed at travellers who are interested in supporting environment and community projects.

Separately, on the marketing front, MAB recently rolled out its new in-flight safety video titled “Satu, Dua, Tiga, Jom!” by mixing Malaysian arts, culture and music with aviation safely. The in-flight video began with a backdrop of harmonic tunes as its cabin crew and Malaysian performance artists, draped in Malaysia’s traditional baju kebaya, welcomed passengers to watch a safety demonstration video.

They then proceeded to demonstrate eight easy-to-follow steps on the safety do’s and don’ts in a musical narration by Malaysia’s prominent figures and characters, comprising Olympic gymnasts, rock bands and the Harimau Malaya football club.

The airlines decided to take a different approach to its in-flight video, engaging its passengers with a refreshing musical instead of usual safety videos with serious tones. Lau Yin May, MAB's group chief marketing and customer experience officer, explained previously that the new in-flight safety video was all part of MAB's efforts to enhance the in-flight experience for passengers to make their journey with the airline that more memorable.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock 

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