Petaling Jaya: Malaysia Airlines today launched the "Towards a Greener Future" a voluntary carbon offset programme that allows customers of Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and MASwings to pledge a contribution towards reducing the effects of CO2.

Malaysia Airlines and its subsidiaries will apply this fare mechanism for all their staff duty travels and contribute towards this project. We are also pleased to announce the participation from Shell, Maxis and Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAHB) to the scheme.

Proceeds from both the customers' contributions and the 3 airlines will be regularly channeled to a trust fund managed by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), which acts on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

At the launch ceremony today, Malaysia Airlines formalized this arrangement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia which oversees FRIM's operations.

The agreement was signed on behalf of FRIM by Ketua Setiausaha, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, YB Datuk Suboh bin Mohd Yasin whilst Malaysia Airlines General Manager, Corporate Safety Security, Health and Environment, Captain Dr Ooi Teong Siew signed on behalf of the airline. The event was witnessed by YB Dato' Maznah Mazlan, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and Malaysia Airlines Managing Director/CEO, Dato' Sri Idris Jala.

Under the arrangement, FRIM will receive the contributions and subsequently channel these funds to selected United Nations' sanctioned forest conservation projects in Malaysia that are designed to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere.

Malaysia Airlines' Managing Director/CEO Dato Sri Idris Jala said, "This project is part of our company-wide commitment towards environmental responsibility. This is also part of a larger programme we are initiating. We have launched an internal ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle' (3R) project in March 2008 to encourage our staff to practice effective waste management in their daily work environment."

Visitors to the online pages of the 3 airlines may choose to contribute an amount that is calculated based on the carbon emissions related to their itinerary, or they may choose to contribute a different amount toward this environment preservation programme of the national airline.

Malaysia Airlines is committed to promoting environmental responsibility. Since 2005, the airline has strived to reduce fuel consumption by realigning its stopover flights to non-stop operations at the most economical speed, practicing continuous descent approaches, flying lighter and cleaner aircraft to improve fuel efficiency.

Issued by: Media Relations, Communications Division, Malaysia Airlines, Subang


For more information, media to contact:

Tan Wai Fong
Tel: 03 78404504
Mobile: 017 338 9075
Email: tanwf@mas.com.my

Anbarasu S.
Tel: 03 78403884
Mobile: 019 2224952
Email: arasu@mas.com.my


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