easyJet passengers raise £10m for UNICEF
Key milestone reached coincides with World Polio Day
24th October 2017 – easyJet, the UK’s leading airline, has announced that its passengers have raised over £10m for UNICEF through its summer and winter onboard collections. The milestone figure, announced to coincide with World Polio Day, 24th October, has been largely achieved through the generosity of easyJet passengers giving to on board collections carried out by the cabin crew on each of easyJet’s 1500 daily flights.
Since 2012 the UNICEF and easyJet Change for Good partnership has so far helped to vaccinate more than 19 million children against polio and 5.3 million mothers and babies against other deadly diseases.
The airline will be holding a special one day collection for UNICEF on all of its flights on Tuesday 24th October. Passengers will be asked to donate their left over holiday change, whatever the currency, to help the fight against polio.
Tina Milton, Head of Cabin services at easyJet said: “I feel very proud that together we have achieved such an amazing milestone in our fundraising efforts. I would like to thank easyJet’s passengers and our cabin crew for their generosity over the last five years.
“To mark World Polio Day easyJet is holding a special one day collection for UNICEF on all of our flights.
“Our passengers have always been extremely generous for past collections and so we are hoping we can count on the donations of the 200,000 passengers who will be flying with easyJet on World Polio Day to continue to build on our £10m achievement.”
UNICEF UK Executive Director Mike Penrose said: “We are extremely proud of our long standing partnership with easyJet and would like to thank their cabin crew and generous passengers for reaching the incredible milestone of £10m raised for UNICEF’s work fighting polio.
“UNICEF’s ambition is for polio to be completely eradicated by 2019 and the ongoing support of our partners and supporters will be invaluable in achieving this goal.”
Today, the once common disease is found only in three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Just 37 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2016. That’s a reduction of more than 99 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day. If the world succeeds in ending polio it will be only the second time in history that a disease has been totally eradicated, the first being smallpox.
–ENDS–
For more information about easyJet, please contact the easyJet Press Office on 01582 525252 or [email protected]
For more information about UNICEF please contact the UNICEF UK press office on 0207 375 6030 or [email protected]
About UNICEF
UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation for children, promoting the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
Unicef UK raises funds to protect children in danger, transform their lives and build a safer world for tomorrow’s children. As a registered charity we raise funds through donations from individuals, organisations and companies and we lobby and campaign to keep children safe. UNICEF UK also runs programmes in schools, hospitals and with local authorities in the UK. For more information please visit UNICEF.org.uk
About easyJet
easyJet is Europe’s leading airline offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe’s primary airports, with great value fares and friendly service.
easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline. easyJet carries over 78 million passengers annually, of which more than 12 million are travelling on business. easyJet flies over 279 aircraft on more than 880 routes to over 140 airports across 31 countries. More than 300 million Europeans live within one hour’s drive of an easyJet airport.
easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in seven countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports a number of local charities and also has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £10m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.
The airline takes sustainability seriously. easyJet invests in the latest technology, operates efficiently and fills most of its seats which means that an easyJet passenger’s carbon footprint is 22% less than a passenger on a traditional airline, flying the same aircraft on the same route.
Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA – from our launch almost 20 years ago when we changed the way people fly to the present day where we lead the industry in digital, web, engineering and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for our passengers.