The Emirates Airline Foundation has used 132 million Skywards Miles to positively impact the lives and livelihoods of more than 90,000 people, mainly children, around the world.

In the same period – from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 – the Foundation also donated more than AED 6.5 million to 22 projects in 12 countries.

The Foundation, established in 2003, routinely supports 32 projects and non-government organisations (NGOs) in 18 countries worldwide through customer donations, corporate sponsorships and Emirates funds.

Support ranges from absorbing all annual running expenses and building infrastructure to running feeding and medical programmes, paying salaries and covering other ad hoc expenses.

The Foundation also appeals to Emirates’ customers to donate Skywards Miles, small change inflight, and funds on its website.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2019, the Foundation used 132 million donated Skywards Miles to support travel for 35 NGOs on more than 50 medical missions; four NGOs on 5 engineering missions; and one NGO on 2 educational missions.

In 2019, the top five countries with the largest beneficiaries were: Bangladesh – over 66,000 people; South Africa – around 7,900; Uganda – around 5,500; Tanzania – around 2,900; and Ghana – 2,000.