The one-year campaign is also part of the national airline’s corporate social responsibility programme, which allows both organisations to establish a framework for strategic collaboration in humanitarian assistance programme.

Malaysia Airlines was represented by YBhg. Dato’ Dr Munir Majid, Chairman of Malaysia Airlines whilst MERCY Malaysia was represented by its’ President, YBhg. Datuk Dr Jemilah Mahmood.

In his speech at the signing ceremony, Dato’ Dr Munir said, “We at Malaysia Airlines are pleased with this collaboration, as it is an ideal avenue to consolidate our humanitarian and disaster relief support through an established and internationally recognised Malaysian organisation. We will endeavour to ensure meaningful engagement of both our passengers and staff for the success of this partnership.”

In return for the above, MERCY Malaysia will train Malaysia Airlines staff on relief/humanitarian work for possible participation in MERCY Malaysia’s relief missions in Malaysia and overseas.

“This is indeed an important and historical day for MERCY Malaysia. We are grateful to our national airline, which is going beyond expectations to not only assist us with fund raising but promoting our visibility internationally. With this partnership, MERCY Malaysia is confident of improving its services and response to disasters globally. We are proud to be collaborating with MAS and are confident that both organisations will reap mutual benefits from this partnership” remarked Dr. Jemilah.

Malaysia Airlines is one of Asia’s largest, flying more than 40,000 passengers, across 6 continents everyday. Its network now links 116 passenger and cargo destinations covering Malaysia and six continents, served by a fleet of over 110 aircraft, ranging from the largest 361-seater Boeing 747-400 to the 19-seater Twin Otter. Malaysia Airlines will begin the latest Airbus A380 aircraft operations by 2007 to meet increasing customer demand on key long haul routes into and out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

MERCY Malaysia is a medical relief organisation dedicated to providing humanitarian aid in crisis and non-crisis situations irrespective of race, religion, culture or boundary. Since its inception in 1999, MERCY Malaysia has sent relief mission to Kosova, Cambodia, Indonesia, Turkey, India, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Iran, Sudan, Aceh and currently, Pakistan. On the homefront, MERCY Malaysia serves the local communities through outreach programmes in various states within the country. It also runs the Drug Rehabilitation and Assistance Programme (DRAP) to assist drug reformers to get back on their feet and return to the society. For more information on MERCY Malaysia, kindly visit www.mercy.org.my.