Emirates customers donate 132 million Skywards Miles to airline’s foundation

Emirates airline customers have donated 132 million Skywards Miles from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020 to the Emirates Airline Foundation.

Those miles have been used to “positively impact the lives and livelihoods of more than 90,000 people, mainly children, living in some of the most impoverished communities worldwide” said the airline in a press statement issued on Thursday.

The foundation used the 132 million Skywards Miles to support travel for 35 NGOs on more than 50 medical missions; four NGOs on five engineering missions; and one NGO on two educational missions.

The top five countries who were the largest beneficiaries included: Bangladesh – more than 66,000 people; South Africa – around 7,900; Uganda – around 5,500; Tanzania – around 2,900; and Ghana – 2,000.

In the same period from April 2019 to March 2020, the foundation also donated more than Dhs6.5m to 22 projects in 12 countries.

The foundation requests Emirates’ customers to donate Skywards Miles, small change inflight, and funds on its website.

“Rather than just donating food to feed the hungry, the Foundation provides children with holistic care – including food, clothing, shelter, medical support and an education – that transforms lives, creates livelihoods, helps sustain communities, and leads to a fairer, more just world. And we are helping our customers connect to these communities when they donate funds or their Skywards Miles,” said Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline and Chairman of the Emirates Airline Foundation.

“Emirates Airline Foundation is our passion project, and we work with like-minded partners and NGOs globally who aim to reach out to the neglected, ignored, and the poorest communities on the planet,” he added.

The foundation also gave a detailed breakdown of the medical, engineering and education projects that it worked on recently.

Medical missions

The airline said that last year, the foundation supported the travel, logistics and free baggage allowance of 676 doctors, nurses and medical staff from NGOs.

The medical practitioners travelled from Europe, USA, Canada and Australia to conduct thousands of free life-saving surgeries, consultations and screenings, and also training for local medical staff.

Doctors treated deep burns and craniofacial deformities, conducted cardiovascular and reconstructive surgery, offered orthopaedic and obstetric medical support which helped 76,900 children and adults.

The major beneficiaries include: 44,000 people at the Emirates Friendship Hospital and over 21,600 refugees who received primary and secondary medical care in Bangladesh; and around 4,800 people in Uganda who received primary care.

Engineering missions
Engineers Without Borders – three missions from USA and one from Germany – successfully completed water supply and rural electrification projects, installed solar panels and set up computer lab classrooms.

These missions, led by 36 specialists, benefited nearly 2,700 people in Uganda, Ghana and Kenya.

Educational missions
The foundation supported more than 10,300 children and 340 teachers by aiding two educational missions – one to South Africa and the other to Tanzania.

Warwick in Africa not only taught children Maths and English in secondary schools, but also trained local teachers.

In the UAE, the foundation supported three organisations – Al Noor Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities, Safe Centre for Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome and The Rashid Centre for the determined ones – with Dhs650,000 last year and tickets for its junior employees.

In September, the airline revealed that its Emirates Skywards membership had crossed 25 million customers.

Read: Emirates surpasses 25 million Skywards members

At the time, it revealed that most Skywards members were from the UK, with about 3.2 million members. The US was second with 2.3 million members. Australia and India were third and fourth, with 1.9 million and 1.8 million members, respectively.

About 1.7 million Emiratis were Skywards members.

Emirates also stated that it was adding nearly 10,000 Skywards members a day – or almost seven per minute (further broken down to more than one every 10 seconds).