Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines volunteers help grow trees for Maui wildfire survivors
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Summary
Twenty employees across Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines this week joined hands to pot more than 80 trees at Kahului Airport grow hub.
To further support the initiative, Hawaiian Airlines provided an additional $30K donation to Treecovery Hawai‘i.
As visitors to Maui step outside Kahului Airport to begin their vacation, they’ll be greeted by hundreds of potted trees lining courtyards, baggage claim and walkways. The young mango, plumeria, ʻulu, puakenikeni and dozens of other plant varieties are part of a large initiative to revegetate properties in Lahaina, Kula and other neighborhoods that were devasted by the 2023 wildfires.
This week, 20 Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines volunteers potted 80 more trees that are now lining the lawn outside the airport’s TSA checkpoint. Hawaiian Airlines also announced a new $30,000 donation to Treecovery Hawai‘i, adding to its previous $50,000 foundation grant to the Maui nonprofit behind the tree-growing effort on the Valley Isle. Once matured, trees will be transported and gifted to families and businesses impacted by fires that destroyed over 20,000 trees in Lahaina and 300 acres in Kula.
Treecovery Hawai‘i was formed in November 2023 to address the loss of rare trees in Lahaina, including a historic Banyan tree that is recovering after being severely damaged.
We were receiving calls about the rare and important trees in the burn zone of Lāhainā. It began the Banyan tree recovery program, then we saw a need for the people and Treecovery was born. We have 8,000 trees potted up growing in these 28 grow hubs with the goal of growing 30,000 trees for free. Our long-term goal is to grow trees for future generations across Maui Nui – that includes native trees, shade trees and fruit bearing trees to provide food security while at the same time creating jobs on Maui.”
Kahului Airport is among the latest of 28 grow hubs Treecovery has sprouted from Hāna to Kapalua, half of which were created in partnership with resorts. Treecovery also has an operation in Kapalua that serves as a grow hub, educational space for kamaʻāina, and a site to host corporate groups that want to help pot trees, and a farm within the 25-acre Hua Momona Farms and Foundation to support residents facing food insecurity. Additionally, the group works with the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and Moku‘ula and Mokuhinia to provide native Hawaiian trees at all the historic locations in Lahaina.
To raise funds, Treecovery accepts donations and has partnered with artists, including Dale Zarella, who is carving burned logs, and ukulele-maker Steve Grimes, with half of sales proceeds benefiting the nonprofit.
The need for trees is growing as communities rebuild. As of last week, 55 new homes have been completed, with 486 building permits issued and hundreds more being processed by the county, according to Maui Recovery. Treecovery recommends planting trees once projects are finished, and Murasako said trees have been delivered to 20 homes so far. Residents are encouraged to apply to receive trees. They can also request native Hawaiian trees managed by the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College School of Agriculture.
About Alaska Air Group
Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and McGee Air Services is a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. We are a global airline with hubs in Seattle, Honolulu, Portland, Anchorage, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. We deliver remarkable care as we fly our guests to more than 140 destinations throughout North America, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. We’ll serve Europe beginning in spring 2026. Guests can book travel at alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com. Alaska is a member of the oneworld alliance, with Hawaiian scheduled to join oneworld in spring 2026. With oneworld and our additional global partners, guests can earn and redeem points for travel to over 1,000 worldwide destinations with Atmos Rewards. Learn more about what’s happening at Alaska and Hawaiian at news.alaskaair.com. Alaska Air Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as “ALK.”
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