Shark Stewards is part of a coalition to urge commercial airlines to drop shark fin from their manifest. The shark fin trade is difficult to track and fins from illegally finned or harvested sharks are routinely transported with products from licensed fisheries. In either case, shark fin soup is an unsustainable dish and the practice of shark finning is abhorrent and ecologically unsound. 25 airlines have already stopped carrying shark fin, but United Airlines has not made a public statement stating their policy on shark fin or denying transportation of shark fin, despite evidence UA or their subsidiaries transport shark fin.
See a copy of United Airlines response here.
Shark Stewards is urging United Airlines as the largest US carrier and the largest airline in the world to make a statement for the health of shark populations and for the balance of the ocean to stop the carriage of shark fin. Forward this letter to United Airlines Director of Sustainability and add your voice to the leadership of United Airlines!
Tell United Airlines to join 25 other carriers to drop shark fin as cargo and break the supply chain. Send an email to United Airlines at [email protected].
Airlines that have banned shark fins with full blanket bans on transport of shark fins:
Virgin Atlantic Airways (2011)
Etihad Airways—the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (2013)
Air New Zealand (2013)
Asiana (2013)
Quantas (2013)
Korean Airlines (2013)
Eva Air (2013)
Aeroméxico (2013)
LAN Chile/LATAM Airlines Group (2013)
Garuda Indonesia (2013)
Qatar Airways (2013)
FinnAir (2013)
Lufthansa (2013)
KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) (2013)
Air Asia (2014)
Philippine Airlines (PAL) (2014)
Emirates and Air Seychelles (2014)
Singapore Airlines (2014)
Thai Airways (2014)
Cebu Pacific (2014)
Swiss Airways (2014)
There are two airlines that have a partial ban on transport of shark fins (sustainable fins only policy):
Cathay Pacific Airlines/Dragonair, which flies throughout Asia, agreed to stop shipping shark fins in September 2012, but has yet to fully implement this policy.
Fiji Airways (formerly Air Pacific)(June 2013)
Jet Airways (2014)
This list was comprised in conjunction with WildLifeRisk.