SOCIAL INITIATIVES

In the countries in which it operates, Zodiac Aerospace takes part in sustainable development initiatives that promote health, education and innovation. Long-term projects.

Group commitments

The Group continues to provide financial and material support to the Petits Princes association and relies on its global aeronautics network to assist in making the “dreams” of seriously ill children come true. Since 2012, it has also provided equipment to the ORA²¹ association and its “Wings for Science” project to make a small airplane available to scientific research laboratories and to encourage young people's interest in science. After a year of missions around the world, this small airplane landed at the 2013 Paris Air Show, Le Bourget. The Group also supports initiatives that promote entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. This is the reason behind its commitment with the Ecole Polytechnique for the Jean-Louis Gerondeau-Zodiac Aerospace prize, which was awarded for the third time in 2013.

Initiatives and entities closer to the ground

True to its entrepreneurial spirit, the Group encourages local initiatives and gives its entities autonomy in choosing their partnership initiatives and philanthropic actions. The examples here cover diverse fields: support in Mexico for the initiative “See better to learn better” and the donation of glasses for children, or in the United States, support for an association to fight breast cancer and for a branch of the Red Cross. Locally run, employees are active in organizing raffles, group buffets, garage sales and sports tournaments.

In 2013, two Group entities donated galley inserts and oxygen equipment to ORBIS - devoted to blindness prevention in developing countries, where according to the WHO²² 90% of the 285 million visually impaired people live. Aviation has always played an important role in humanitarian missions. Since 1994, ORBIS has operated an ophthalmological hospital on board a DC10. On board: a medical team that teaches the latest surgical techniques to ophthalmologists in the poorest countries and operates on patients, as well as modules that provide drinking water, electricity and purified oxygen. The aircraft includes a classroom and an operating room connected by TV, a room with tools for training local doctors, and a recovery room. Zodiac Aerospace equipment is intended for the MD10, which will replace the DC10 in 2014.

²¹ Observe, Record, Analyze

²² World Health Organization

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