Boeing and TAAG Partner with Non-Profit to Deliver Textbooks
EVERETT, Wash., July 2011 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] partnered with Angola flag carrier TAAG Linhas Aereas de Angola (Angola Airlines) to transport 7,400 pounds (3,357 kilograms) of professional and technical books onboard TAAG’s second 777-300ER delivery yesterday to deliver them to Agostinho Neto University in Luanda, Angola.“TAAG is proud to offer our airplane for the benefit of the people of Angola,” said TAAG Chairman Dr. Antonio Luis Pimentel Araujo. “Working with Boeing and the university, we are able to use our second 777-300ER to bring needed educational supplies to the students of Angola so they have the necessary resources to become successful in their professional and educational endeavors – it is truly a win-win for everyone involved.”
“Boeing has a long relationship with not only TAAG but the people of Angola,” said J Miguel Santos, Sales director for the southern Africa region. “Boeing works hard to look for opportunities to make things like this happen around the globe. I’m extremely pleased and proud that we can provide this donation to the university, both professionally as a representative of Boeing and personally as I spent my childhood in Angola.”
Today’s 777-300ER delivery to TAAG will deliver approximately 3,000 professional and technical books from Boeing’s technical library in California to Agostinho Neto University’s Department of Cooperation and International e Juridico / Engerey (Legal and Energy). The books will be placed in the central library of the Faculty of Engineering and available for use by teachers, students and the general public.
"Since 1992, Boeing, its airline customers, and non-profit organizations have worked together to help people all over the world through Boeing’s Humanitarian Delivery Flights program. We are pleased to be able to use our own resources, new airplanes, to carry out this work," said Liz Warman, director of Boeing Global Corporate Citizenship for the Northwest region.
Over the years, Boeing has facilitated 130 Humanitarian Delivery Flights, working in partnership with nearly 50 different airlines worldwide.
“This donation has been months in the making and being here to see it come to fruition brings me great pride,” said Bezaye Wodajo, electrical engineer, 737 Cabin Systems, and member of Boeing Employee Africa Exploration Council. “I look forward to personally delivering these books to the university and am happy our efforts can be put to good use and people of Angola will benefit from this project.”
“TAAG has a history of supporting the Angolan community,” said Dr. Pimentel Araujo. “We are committed to promoting the image of Angola within the country and across the globe. Our airline is a dynamic component of the Angolan economy and we fully support our community through social actions like this delivery opportunity.”
This is TAAG’s second 777-300ER delivery in the past month. The airplane will be used to expand TAAG’s network capacity to support the airline’s important Angola-Portugal market. This particular airplane is named after the Welwitschia Mirabilis – a famous plant that only exists in the Namib Desert of Southern Angola and Namibia.
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