British Airways celebrates its association with Comic Relief

The fundraising partnership between Comic Relief and British Airways, which is marking its first anniversary, is known as "Flying Start'. It aims to transform lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged children globally and strives to create a world free from poverty.

As the only year-round fundraising partner of Comic Relief, the airline continuously raises money through on-board collections, a donation page on ba.com/flyingstart, and offers customers the option to donate when purchasing flights and holidays at ba.com.

To commemorate the first anniversary of the partnership, a yard sale was also held at the British Airways' offices in India recently which saw sale of an array of commodities and services such as lessons in yoga, swimming, caricatures and tarot card reading in addition to eatables, spa treatments and numerous objects (books, accessories, household and electronic items) which were all undertaken by the employees. The proceeds totaled up to INR 142,030 which will be presented to comic relief towards the development of "Flying Start" aimed at transforming the lives of disadvantaged and underprivileged children.

Speaking on this initiative in India and its outcome, Judy Jarvis, Regional Commercial Manager, British Airways, said, "I would like to thank our team which has shown great enthusiasm to come forward and work towards making a difference to the lives of underprivileged people. It's an honour to involve all of our employees in these noble causes."

Aside from the on-ground programmes, British Airways has also recently provided 150 desktop computers to various organizations including Drishtee, Akshay Parishthan, and other social enterprises designed to provide functional opportunities for development and empowerment in rural India.

"Marginalized communities across the globe are facing the plight of unsustainability due to lack of localized livelihood sources. Computers can play a vital role in enabling young men and women in rural areas, receive the benefits of outsourcing of work from cities and thus create a decent living, without having to migrate. British Airways in kind donation of computers would immensely help at least a village come out of poverty, with pride" said Satyan Mishra, Founder, Drishtee.

In the past, British Airways initiatives have included painting the archbishop Alan de Lactic Memorial Children's village, located in Gurgaon by British Airways HR teams who came across from different continents. The British Airways employees rolled up their sleeves and applied a fresh coat of paint to this community refuge for children in need. In addition to using over 100 litres of red paint to revamp the school walls, employees spent time with the children and distributed gifts among them.

British Airways employees have also volunteered to support disadvantaged children living alone on the streets or at railway stations in deprived situations through its program called Railway Children. British Airways also has been working with the disadvantaged street children through Butterflies, a voluntary organization working with street and working children in Delhi since 1989.