Hawaiian Airlines and HawaiianMiles members donated 35 million miles to 13 local nonprofits in 2019 via the carrier’s member giving program. Each organization received an average of 2.8 million miles to support services aligned with Hawaiian’s corporate pillars of culture, education, environment and health and human services in Hawai‘i. The 35 million gifted miles constitutes the largest annual donation since the program’s inception in 2005.
“Our HawaiianMiles members achieved an incredible milestone and their record-breaking generosity is a testament to how truly special Hawai‘i is,” said Bryan Kapeckas, managing director of loyalty and travel products at Hawaiian Airlines. “Each donation of airline miles – no matter the size – resulted in an impactful investment back into our community, and we couldn’t be more thankful.”
Hawaiian, the state’s hometown carrier for over nine decades, encourages HawaiianMiles members to participate in the yearlong giving program by donating miles to a selection of Hawai‘i-based nonprofits. The airline matches up to a half-million miles of the total donations made annually to each nonprofit.
Last year, HawaiianMiles members donated 28 million miles – more than doubling the 10.4 million miles given in 2018. Hawaiian contributed a company match of 7 million miles that resulted in a record year-end total of 35 million miles.
Benefiting organizations include:
- American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific
- American Red Cross of Hawaii
- Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii
- Blood Bank of Hawaii
- Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL)
- Friends of Hōkūle‘a and Hawai‘iloa
- Hawaiian Humane Society
- HUGS
- Make A Wish Hawaii
- Maui Forward Bird Recovery Program
- National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii
- Shriners Hospital for Children of Honolulu
- Special Olympics Hawai‘i
In addition to the HawaiianMiles member contribution, the carrier gifted 19.2 million miles to over 150 Hawai‘i nonprofits in 2019 via its Team Kōkua Giving Program. To learn more about Hawaiian Airlines’ corporate giving and responsibility initiatives, click here.
Nonprofit quotes:
“The American Cancer Society is a grateful partner in the HawaiianMiles giving program,” said Lani Almanza, manager of hospital systems and mission delivery for the American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific. “The miles donated help us provide critical access to care needed by cancer patients who have to travel away from their home island to receive their life-saving cancer treatments and ease the financial burdens that they face. In 2019 we were able to provide over 77 round-trip flights for Hawai‘i cancer patients, with some of those to treatment centers in the continental U.S.”
“The HawaiianMiles giving program provides wonderful community support for Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii. As a youth-serving organization with a statewide presence, our staff and the youth we serve use the donated miles to travel for specialized training opportunities in Honolulu and even mainland locations,” said Dennis Brown, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii. “We’ve also provided air travel for youth to participate in leadership seminars, college campus visits, and other experiences they couldn’t otherwise afford.”
“The Friends of Hōkūle‘a and Hawai‘iloa are most grateful for the HawaiianMiles giving program, for it has afforded us a greater ability to reach out into our community and share the voyaging traditions and canoe building skills of ancient Hawaiian culture,” said Billy Richards, president of Friends of Hōkūle‘a and Hawai‘iloa.
“We are deeply grateful for the generous gifts of HawaiianMiles that allow us to raise funds that go directly to providing services for O‘ahu’s homeless animals. These services include complex medical treatments that give pets a new lease on life with loving families,” said Daniel Roselle, director of community relations at the Hawaiian Humane Society.
“Our partnership with the HawaiianMiles giving program allows Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project to put more dollars towards on the ground endangered species management and forest restoration,” said Dr. Hanna Mounce, project coordinator at the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project. “Every flight that we are able to cover with miles for interisland meetings, exchanges of volunteers, survey work, and collaborations within Hawaii and beyond helps us put more funding into the conservation work we do.”
About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian® has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 15 years (2004-2018) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Consumer surveys by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and TripAdvisor have placed Hawaiian among the top of all domestic airlines serving Hawai‘i.
Now in its 91st year of continuous service, Hawaiian is Hawaii’s biggest and longest-serving airline. Hawaiian offers nonstop service to Hawai‘i from more U.S. gateway cities (13) than any other airline, along with service from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa and Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides, on average, more than 160 jet flights daily between the Hawaiian Islands, and over 240 daily flights system wide.
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