Malaysia Aviation Group Bags the Lead by Launching Sustainable Handbags Made From Planes
In a totally innovative step towards sustainability in the aviation industry, MAG has collaborated with Theselina, a fashion brand, to launch five bespoke sustainable luxury handbag collections from repurposed aircraft materials.
Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of Malaysia Airlines has partnered with homegrown fashion brand Theselina to develop five sustainable handbag collections repurposed from aircraft materials that include aircraft leather seats, belts, tablecloths, life vests, cabin crew uniforms and other materials.
The collaboration combines luxury and sustainability and showcases MAG’s commitment for a net-zero carbon emission future through upcycling efforts. These handbags are crafted by Theselina’s team of professional seamsters and seamstresses, and can be described as functional, stylish, and versatile enough to be used on a daily basis.
These limited addition sustainable bags are uniquely named after IATA codes to destinations within Malaysia Airlines’ network that includes, Buckle Bag, the Sierra Yankee Delta (SYD = Sydney) Bag, the November Romeo Tango (NRT = Narita, Japan) Bag; the Mike Yankee Yankee (MYY = Miri, Malaysia) Bag and the Mike Echo Lima (MEL = Melbourne) Backpack. The SYD bag is priced at RM882 (£158), MYY at RM1,421 (£255) along with the remaining collection at RM2,100 (£378), and are available at MAG’s online marketplace Journify.
Five eminent Malaysian personalities and sustainability advocates were the first to buy these bags. MAG sees this launch and sustainability campaign as a way to promote its value around the world. MAG Acting Chief Sustainability Officer and Firefly CEO Philip See said:
“Sustainability is one of the key drivers in MAG’s Long-Term Business Plan 2.0 of becoming Asia’s leading travel and aviation services group. As the parent company of the national carrier Malaysia Airlines, MAG continues to forge ways to promote socio-economic development and achieve our commitment of recording net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
This includes minimising our environmental impacts; positively enhancing the communities we operate in; ensuring safety excellence; driving profitability for the benefit of our stakeholders, employees and ensuring compliance within the organisation.
We at MAG believe that our customers should be able to enjoy the finer things in life while remaining conscious of our role in caring for the planet. We are proud to show the fruits of what our collaboration with high-end designer Selina Yeop Jr of Theselina has brought, through the repurposing of aircraft materials into bespoke designer bags, allowing us to reduce wastage whilst alleviating our flag-bearing brand to the world.”
MAG has taken a wide number of initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint which includes bio-composting food waste from flights into organic fertiliser, enhancing fuel efficiency measures, and repurposing scrapped aircraft materials into new products and most recently being the Malaysia-registered commercial aircraft that uses Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). In addition, the group has set a goal to use 50 per cent of the biodegradable materials for in-flight operations by 2025. They are walking the talk in achieving their target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, set together with Oneworld Alliance partners. Plus, they are showing their true commitment to setting industry-leading standards in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030. Having won the Asia Responsible Enterprise Award (AREA) 2019 for spearheading sustainable green initiatives and creating value to the aviation industry, we at Brightsun Travel are sure there are more accolades to come for their pioneering initiatives.
