Guide Dogs Association of the Blind receives year-long sponsorship from Scoot-Tigerair

The newly announced airline sponsorship will allow more trained guide dogs to be flown from Australia into Singapore, which will hopefully benefit the visually-impaired community here.
Latasha Seow 13 April 2017

Photo credit: Guide Dogs Association of the Blind Official Facebook Page

 

On the 10th of April this year, it was announced that Scoot-Tigerair agreed to sponsor Guide Dogs Association of the Blind (GDAB) with six return flights between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia from April 2017 to May 2018. The airline will not only ferry trained guide dogs from Australia to Singapore, but also send local guide dogs for further training with Guide Dogs Victoria in Melbourne.

 

GDAB, a local non-profit organisation, aims to reduce the stigma associated with the blind and visually-impaired, as well as improve their quality of life by providing training for guide dogs that will help the visually-impaired. Currently, it has eight guide dogs in Singapore, of which six were brought into Singapore by Guide Dogs Victoria. With this sponsorship, it is hoping to bring in even more.

 

Besides being the only Singapore-based airline to allow certified guide dogs on board their flights, Scoot-Tigerair’s flight attendants are also trained in assisting visually-impaired passengers on board. The airline had previously helped out with the transporting of two guide dogs from Australia before signing on to sponsor GDAB officially.

 

Ms Lee Sutton, the vice chairperson of GDAB, conveyed her gratitude for this partnership. “In recent years, we have observed a greater acceptance towards guide dogs and also improved accessibility in public places,” she said. As such, she is optimistic that GDAB will soon be able to begin forming new guide dog teams in Singapore.

 

“Scoot and Tigerair are happy to support GDAB’s effort to enhance the mobility of the visually-impaired in our community,” said Leslie Thng, who is the Chief Compliance Officer of Scoot and Tigerair. Leslie also shared that Scoot and Tigerair will continue to improve themselves in order to enable those with disabilities to embark on new and exciting adventures, which is what the company strongly believes in.