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| Photo Norwegian |
In a remarkable show of generosity passengers on Norwegian's flights have donated a total of three million dollars, that's £2.3 million since the airline added the donation option to the booking process in July 2015.
Within its first year, the new donation option raised more than $720,000 and in July 2018 Norwegian introduced onboard donations in the personal in-flight entertainment system on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. UK passengers are among the top donors with those travelling to New York donating the most to UNICEF.
Norwegian and UNICEF have had a partnership since 2007. Since then the airline has supported saving hundreds of thousands of lives through various initiatives, which also includes its Fill a Plane campaigns. Five humanitarian aid flights have been carried out since 2014 which have brought tons of emergency aid to the Central African Republic; the world’s second-largest refugee camp, Za’atari in Jordan; Mali; to Djibouti for Yemen; and last year, to Chad.
As part of the booking process customers can choose to donate £3, £5, £10 or £15, which goes directly to UNICEF.
As a result of these donations:
£3 can provide a life-saving mosquito net, which will protect newborns against malaria;
£5 can enable UNICEF to vaccinate 20 children against polio;
£10 can provide an entire class of 20 students with exercise books;
£15 can buy 38 packets of therapeutic food – enough for two weeks of treatment for a malnourished child.
Bjørn Kjos, Norwegian CEO said: “I would like to personally thank all our wonderful customers for their generosity. Their donations help UNICEF ensure that even more children around the world get access to the future they deserve. When it is this easy to donate, we notice that many more contribute to such a great cause.”
Camilla Viken, UNICEF Norway CEO said: “This is a way of contributing that doesn’t require much but can mean the difference of life and death for those who receive it. On behalf of UNICEF and children around the world, we would like to thank Norwegian’s customers for their caring and contribution. This means so much, and it is great to see both new and old passengers continuing to contribute. This way, we will save thousands of children’s lives.”
Passengers flying out of London Gatwick are the third biggest donators to UNICEF after Norway and Sweden. While the most generous per donation are the Danish.
Top 10 routes where passengers have donated the most to UNICEF during their booking process:
1) London – New York
2) New York – London
3) Bergen – Oslo
4) Oslo – Bergen
5) Trondheim – Oslo
6) Los Angeles – London
7) Stockholm – London
8) London – Los Angeles
9) Oslo – London
10) Oslo – Trondheim
Last year, nine Norwegian employees also raised more than $50,000 by representing the airline and UNICEF during the NYC Marathon. This year, another group of employees will do the same.
The airline operates a young and therefore more environmentally friendly aircraft fleet with an average age of just 3.8 years. The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has voted Norwegian the most fuel-efficient airline on Transatlantic routes for two consecutive years which further demonstrates the airline’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions.
Norwegian is the world's fifth largest low-cost airline operating 500 routes to 150 destinations in Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Thailand, the U.S and South America. In 2018 the airline carried more than 37 million passengers.
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