Japan Airlines receives UNICEF Award for 10 years' support

The Japan Committee for UNICEF has awarded Japan Airlines a letter of appreciation for the airline's 10 years of support of the UNICEF "Change for Good" campaign collecting unwanted foreign currency from travelers. The presentation was made to JAL's president and C.E.O., Isao Kaneko, at JAL's Tokyo headquarters on November 28 by Yoshihasa Togo, Director General of the Japan Committee for UNICEF. (UNICEF = United Nations Children's Fund).

UNICEF collects foreign currency from travelers, mostly in the form of coins, in a variety of ways. The funds go to support the organization's support programmes for children worldwide. Since the campaign was launched in August 1992, some 10 million travelers have contributed spare change to the campaign, with the help of airlines.

JAL has been collecting spare foreign change from passengers on its Tokyo-New York and Tokyo-Paris routes.

UNICEF also has collecting boxes at airports and hotels in Japan and JAL helps with the collection of money from the boxes and ships it to the UNICEF headquarters free of charge. Since the programme started by March 2002 JAL had helped collect about 75,000,000 yen (US$625, 000).

JAL aircraft bear the UNICEF logo mark together with the slogan, "WE SUPPORT UNICEF", carrying the message worldwide. The airline also supports the children's relief organization through the sale of UNICEF goods such as greetings cards at retail sales outlets and through in-flight sales.

JAL president Isao Kaneko is a strong believer in supporting UNICEF.

"Airlines should contribute wherever possible to the work of UNICEF in its support of the world's underprivileged children. We are pleased and proud to have helped UNICEF these past 10 years and will continue to offer our support in future," said Kaneko at the award ceremony.

The airline's support of UNICEF actually goes back more than 10 years. When JAL was privatized in 1987, the proceeds of a celebratory concert attended by UNICEF "Ambassador" Audrey Hepburn were donated to the charity.