Every airline I know, in cases where there is a tremendous humanitarian need, wants to be able to help out," explains Mark Dunkerley, chief executive of Hawaiian Airlines. "The difficulty we have as an airline isn't finding good causes to help, it is in fact making decisions between them."

A new initiative from the ISTAT (International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading) Foundation - called AirLink - has been formed to help airlines make this decision, and, at least as important, to create a simple mechanism to connect airlines with charities and non-government organisations (NGOs).

The mechanism is the AirLink website. It acts as a free portal to link the capacity airlines offer with the needs of the good causes. "It helps matchmake between airlines and NGOs and aid agencies to facilitate making good intentions happen," says Dunkerley.

"Airlines retain all of the control of what they are donating," he adds. AirLink also pre-vets the NGOs, taking away another hassle for carriers. The commitment of a carrier to AirLink is small; just one person needs to be trained to run the system.

Dunkerley, along with ex-American Airlines head Bob Crandall and Etihad boss James Hogan, is one of several high-profile aviation figures on the AirLink advisory council.

Hawaiian has itself recently donated seats to charities travelling to Japan to assist with the relief effort following the earthquake. "Lots of people in the company were involved in determining what we should do," says Dunkerley. "Once we'd decided, AirLink was a very straightforward way of being able to match up with all the agencies.

"Within days, we were able to fly a team of people whose expedition was helping communities deal with disaster relief in Japan," says Dunkerley. The seven members of the Eagles' Wings Foundation, which provides trained emergency response experts, flew from Seattle to Tokyo via Honolulu.

AirLink came into being in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake in January 2010. ISTAT's Foundation had already decided to expand its activities into humanitarian efforts and the Haiti emergency provided the chance to begin with a basic website service, explains Ty Prettyman, who as programme director runs AirLink from day to day.

Since then, AirLink's membership has grown to more than a dozen airlines, but more are needed, as are the number of active NGOs. "The aim is to recruit more airline members and increase the geographic spread of AirLink," says executive director Dr Barry Humphreys, a former senior Virgin Atlantic executive. "The biggest problem is getting the attention of the airlines."

The word about AirLink is growing. "I would encourage airlines to get on board," says Dunkerley. "AirLink helps to deal with that incessant barrage of requests [for help]. You make the decisions and prioritise them according to your own wishes."

Source: Airline Business

Topics