SEPANG, 22 December 2021 - AirAsia Foundation is initiating its Malaysia Flood Relief donation drive in response to urgent calls for aid to support the rebuilding needs of communities impacted by last week’s floods across several Malaysian states. 

The campaign, which commences today, will see donation boxes be made available onboard all AirAsia flights, and online via the BigPay app. 

All donations will be earmarked for repairing and rebuilding homes and community infrastructure damaged by severe flooding that affected eight states and displaced tens of thousands of people. To complement past implementation partners, the Foundation is inviting registered non-profit organisations with a track record in relief and rehabilitation work to apply to it for project funding via foundation@airasia.com. 

AirAsia Foundation Executive Director Yap Mun Ching said: “Our thoughts go out to those impacted, including many within the airasia family. One of the Foundation’s priorities is to help communities rebuild better after a disaster. Thus, with the support of our guests, we hope to be able to play a constructive role as the situation transitions from one of emergency relief to recovery.”

BigPay CEO and Co-Founder, Salim Dhanani said: “Through this partnership, we aim to make it safe and convenient for our users to contribute funds to aid in the recovery of affected Malaysians. BigPay is here to make it simple to help those impacted by this tragedy. Our past fund-raising collaborations have shown that a little kindness goes a long way and together, we can make a difference for those impacted by the natural disaster."

Donations via the BigPay app are currently available only to android phone users. Donors may go to the ‘Payments’ tab and click on the ‘Donations’ tile. BigPay app users who do not see the ‘Donations’ tile should update to the current version in the Playstore. Donation boxes will be carried onboard AirAsia Malaysia flights from Dec 25 this week.

AirAsia Foundation has an extensive record of supporting organisations that provide relief to communities in crises. Since 2013, the foundation has raised over MYR14 million to support post-disaster relief and rehabilitation programmes following Typhoon Haiyan (2013), Malaysian floods (2014), Nepal earthquake (2015) and Palu tsunami (2018). In 2019, AirAsia Foundation and BigPay jointly raised RM178,000 to provide food and medical aid to vulnerable communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For further details and status of the donation drive, please visit https://www.airasiafoundation.com/humanitarian. 

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About AirAsia Foundation

AirAsia Foundation is committed to helping build an ASEAN Community of the future by advocating social entrepreneurship, equal opportunity, and innovation. As the philanthropic arm of the AirAsia Group, it provides social enterprise grants to empower underprivileged individuals, and supports projects that preserve and revive the region’s unique cultural heritage. The Foundation also leads the airasia group’s humanitarian fund-raising campaigns and #KnowtheSigns anti-trafficking initiative. 

Since its establishment in 2012, AirAsia Foundation has awarded more than MYR2 million in social enterprise grants, creating an impact in the lives of over 3,200 direct beneficiaries, and over MYR14 million in post-disaster relief and rehabilitation grants. Among innovative projects funded through these donations are design and construction of disaster-resilient housing, school and community infrastructure; school preparedness programmes; and livelihood rebuilding projects. 

About BigPay 

BigPay is an ASEAN fintech company with proud Malaysian roots founded in 2017.  The company is committed to democratising financial literacy, accessibility, and wellbeing in the region by providing accessible, transparent, simple and secure digital financial services. From payments to international transfer, credit, micro-insurance and smart budgeting, the goal is to drive sustainable change for consumers and businesses across Southeast Asia.