On January 10, American Airlines (American) announced it is expanding its collaboration with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the US Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by becoming a member of the Blue Lightning Initiative.
The effort focuses on training airline and aviation personnel to ensure they have the tools to better identify potential traffickers and victims.
Speaking about the new initiative, American Airlines Vice President of Corporate Security Gary Tomasulo said the Blue Lightning Initiative is a key element in the federal government's fight against the scourge of human trafficking, adding:
This is not American Airlines' first collaboration against human trafficking, as in 2020, it became a Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) signatory through DOT's initiative to maximize the transportation industry's collective effort to combat human trafficking.
Before joining the Blue Lightning Initiative (BLI), American was partnering with the Blue Campaign, now part of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Center for Countering Human Trafficking.
The DHS program is a national public awareness effort to educate the public, law enforcement and industry partners about human trafficking.
Supporting this proud commitment to fighting trafficking, America already trains more than 70,000 team members on this critical program annually.
The BLI training will be part of a company-provided training effort for tens of thousands of the airline's flight attendants, pilots, customer service representatives and other team members to help them recognize the indicators of human trafficking and to take appropriate action.
American Airlines is often considered the world's largest airline, and in 2023, it carried more than 210 million passengers to around 350 destinations in more than 60 countries.
It has a combined mainline and regional fleet of more than 1,500 aircraft and around 140,000 personnel.
With so many flights and destinations, American is acutely aware of the potential for human trafficking, particularly on its international routes.
At the end of September, the mainline fleet included 965 aircraft, split 51% Boeing and 49% Airbus. It comprises:
- Airbus A319, A320, A321, and A321neos
- Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8s
- Boeing 777-200ER and 777-300ERs
- Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners
American is dedicated to protecting human rights, including human trafficking and child exploitation, through partnerships including It's A Penalty, Protecting All Children from Trafficking (PACT), New Friends New Life (NFNL) and Texas Business Against Trafficking (TBAT). In 2024, that support extended to donating miles to It's A Penalty and PACT to support their work.
In 2024, the airline's Professional Women in Aviation Employee Business Resource Group hosted human trafficking awareness sessions with the Department of Homeland Security or other partners at five locations.
The sessions were held at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR).
