In response to an appeal by the Manila Airport Operations Council (AOC) to airlines for support towards its "One for Taal" mission following the recent eruption of Taal Volcano, the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) today transported more than 15,000 inflight blankets for victims around the area.

MAG has also organised a donation drive among its employees to donate cash or collect essential items which will be channelled via the AOC among the 150,000 people who have been displaced and are now finding shelter at various evacuation centres. 

The airline has also reached out to MERCY Malaysia, a local humanitarian organization that provides medical and humanitarian services locally and abroad, to offer them with suitable travel arrangements, either by flying in volunteers or in assisting the transportation of emergency relief items should it be required.

Captain Izham Ismail, Malaysian Aviation Group chief executive officer, cited the close relationship between Malaysia Airlines and the Philippines.

"Malaysia Airlines enjoys strong relationship with the airline and airport communities since we began our operations into Manila back in 1974. Our pilots, including myself, attended the Philippine Aviation School which is located near Lake Taal for our first training. Despite being from a foreign country, we were welcomed by the people of Luzon with their warm hospitality during our cadet years," Ismail said in a statement.

Ticket sale contribution

"My heart remains close to the people in the community as I know the difficulties they face there daily. With that, similar to our contribution for Australia, I am also pledging a MYR1 contribution from ticket sales of each passenger flown by Malaysia Airlines for the month of January 2020 to be donated to the people of Taal," he added.

"We sincerely hope that our contributions will help ease the burden of the affected communities. Our thoughts and prayers are with them always."

Malaysia Airlines flies from Kuala Lumpur to Manila 21 times weekly.