Recognising the dedication of South Africa’s hardworking educators, Emirates has gifted 100 teachers with sold-out, limited-edition backpacks from its second ‘Aircrafted by Emirates’ repurposed luggage collection, as part of the airline’s commitment to ‘connecting communities’ by building enduring relationships and making meaningful differences in the destinations it serves.

Afzal Parambil, Emirates Regional Manager for Southern Africa said, “Since our first flight to Johannesburg in 1995, we have not only invested in scaling our operations and developing South Africa’s tourism sector but invested in the community too. Education, much like travel, broadens the mind and brings immeasurable value to society at large. Celebrating these shared values, we wanted to show our appreciation for the teachers in one of Johannesburg’s most impoverished townships. We are proud to enrich the communities we serve.”

In the same month as World Teachers Day, the Emirates team based in Johannesburg visited two schools located in Alexandra, Sandton – Carter Primary School and Gordon Primary School. Both schools in the township play a crucial role in shaping young minds and providing the next generation with crucial tools to build a better future. These efforts are aligned with the airline’s long-standing support for youth through providing essential services, with education at the heart of many of its initiatives, helping create meaningful, sustainable and lasting impact in the communities that it serves.

The teachers in both schools each received a premium cream leather backpack handmade from materials upcycled from the airline’s iconic A380 and 777 aircraft, including leather from First Class seats. Handmade at the Emirates Engineering facility in Dubai, each item represents a piece of the airline’s history and encapsulates the spirit of innovation that Emirates shares with teachers. Each backpack included a luxe leather notebook, an on-the-go tea tumbler and a gift pack of delicious teas from Dilmah.

“It means a lot to us to have our hard work, dedication and sacrifices recognized. We are grateful to the Emirates team for hand-picking our school. We don’t often get recognition for the work we do, in the communities we work in. Emirates has shown our learners that through hard work they too can be recognised for their efforts and become key players and role models in their own communities regardless of their backgrounds. And we hope that this is the start of a long-lasting relationship,” said Principal Seemela of Carter Primary school, Alexandra.

Through the Emirates Airline Foundation, Emirates has a long history of supporting children’s schooling programmes, believing education to be one of the greatest engines for societal development. In South Africa, the Foundation supports two projects: Singakwenza supports early childhood education for low-income communities in South Africa, provided training for 71 practitioners to create learning opportunities for 970 young children; Fikelela Children’s Centre is committed to serving children afflicted with HIV/AIDS, providing them with housing and placing them in education programmes. Just last month, the airline’s latest A380 livery celebrating the decades-long work of the Foundation, made one of its first voyages to Johannesburg, bringing its inspirational philanthropic message to South Africa’s skies.

Aircrafted by Emirates repurposes materials salvaged from the airline’s interior cabin retrofit programme, upcycling them into a collection of bags and accessories. More than 50,000 kg of materials from 191 aircraft are expected to be recovered and repurposed. Designed and tailored in-house at Emirates Engineering, the bags are destined to be donated to community schools and organisations supporting early education across Africa and Asia before the end of this year.