Air Canada has cultivated two beehives, creating a buzz, at its Montreal head office for two consecutive years. In October, professional beekeepers from Alvéole, an urban beekeeping company, harvested 200 jars of honey that will be enjoyed by customers at Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounges.
What do beehives and honey have to do with aviation? The beehives are part of Air Canada’s broad environmental initiatives committed to leaving less of a footprint in our environment and doing more in the communities that we operate in. Nurturing these beehives gives the local ecosystem a boost and supports biodiversity. Honey harvest season, in early fall also gave employees the opportunity to learn more about bee cultivation and sustainability by participating through hands-on experience harvesting honey. Alvéole’s Erin Jackson presented the A, BEE, Cs of harvesting honey to thirty employees who got their hands sticky.
“At Air Canada, our goal is to leave less and do more in the more than 200 communities we serve, and the environments in which we operate in. We understand this gives us both a responsibility and an obligation to demonstrate our values in all that we do,” said Teresa Ehman, Senior Director of Environmental Affairs at Air Canada. “Cultivating beehives is just one of many Air Canada environmental initiatives engaging our employees and communities we operate in – ranging from cleaning up ocean shorelines in Clearwater, Florida, and Richmond, BC, community planting events in Brampton, ON, urban agriculture projects in Dorval, QC to championing electric car charging stations in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.”
Air Transport World recognized the effectiveness of its environmental programs when it named Air Canada the 2018 Eco-Airline of the Year, citing many of our sustainability programs. In 2019, the Vancouver Airport Authority has awarded Air Canada with the 2019 edition of the YVR Green Excellence Award, which recognizes organizations that have demonstrated environmental stewardship on Sea Island over the last 3 years.
