| Air Canada is marking Black History Month by featuring the achievements and contributions of its Black employees to aviation, including an inaugural, Black History celebratory flight.
Flight AC914 from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale and return flight AC917 today, operated with a wide-body Airbus A330-300 aircraft, is being flown with a Black crew of two pilots and eight flight attendants. Air Canada’s Black History celebratory flight was also planned and supported by Black managers and employees on the ground and behind the scenes.
“We salute and acknowledge the achievements and contributions of Air Canada’s Black employees who brought forward their idea of operating today’s Black History celebratory flight. We are very pleased to champion their identity, pride, and enthusiasm for this special, inaugural flight to commemorate Black History Month at our airline,” said Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Public Affairs.
“We are a global airline that transports customers across six continents, and our biggest strength is our people. Air Canada is widely recognized for its diversity, culture and inclusiveness, and we strive to create a workplace that employees feel proud to belong to by leaning in and listening, learning and working collaboratively to continually advance shared initiatives,” Meloul-Wechsler said.
“We are so incredibly proud of today’s inaugural Black History celebratory flight! Not only does this demonstrate Black representation in aviation, we also want qualified Black people to know they have a place in our industry and especially at Air Canada. We thank Air Canada for supporting this historic flight and for working together with Air Canada’s Black employee community to further strengthen our airline’s culture,” said Yolanda Cornwall, Customer Service Training Specialist – Toronto and Claudine Martinell, Concierge and Premium Customer Excellence – USA, members of the Air Canada Black History Month Committee.
Air Canada has been named one of Canada’s best Diversity Employers for multiple consecutive years. Its Corporate Sustainability Report (CSR) details the airline’s diversity and community initiatives.
In its internal voluntary surveys, 387 Air Canada employees self-identified as Black, and work in leadership, management, specialized professional positions, and across all work groups including pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents, maintenance technicians and ground support crews. |
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ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY WINE BOTTLES: GREAT FOR TRAVEL
A lie-flat bottle of Banrock Station wine. Johnny Stephens photo
Banrock Station, the eco-friendly wine brand from Accolade Wines, is releasing the first flat bottle made from 100% recycled PET plastic in Canada.
The 750 ml (standard size) bottles are made from 100% recycled PET polymer, pre-existing material not single-use plastic. It takes 75% less energy to make a plastic bottle from recycled material compared with using virgin material and CO2 emissions of recycled PET were found to be 79% lower than for virgin PET. The bottles are also 100% recyclable and certified carbon neutral.
Weighing just 63 grams when empty, the Banrock Station bottles are 87% lighter than the average glass wine bottle, resulting in significant CO2 savings across the supply chain. The flat design is approximately 40% spatially smaller than the average glass wine bottle, while containing 750 ml of wine, and contributes to packaging efficiencies, with up to 91% more wine fitting on pallets, further reducing CO2 emissions.
“One of our key pillars to support growth for the Americas is our emphasis on sustainability. If we can be sustainable and disruptive at the same time, it helps propel our business forward,” said Enrique Morgan, Managing Director, Accolade Wine, Americas.
“With the Garcon bottle in particular, we are disrupting the category by offering a completely different packaging format than our customers are used to, using a lot less resources to ship product, and lowering our carbon footprint by using packaging that is 100% recycled PET,” he said.
I can’t tell you exactly which provinces have them, but I was told the bottles are now available in some parts of Canada.
Accolade is based in South Australia but also has vineyards in Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Chile.
