In a new partnership, Jason Momoa and Hawaiian Airlines are replacing plastic water bottles in flight with the actor’s aluminum bottled Mananalu water.
Mananalu, the bottled water company founded by actor, activist, and entrepreneur Jason Momoa, says it’s now the featured water option in Hawaiian Airline’s premium cabins. The water comes in what the brand calls “infinitely recyclable” aluminum bottles.
The Mananalu water replaces plastic water bottles on all East Coast and international flights, the airline says as well as replace the bottled water that comes with its snack cart on flights between the Hawaiian islands and 16 U.S. cities.
“We have remained steadfast in our commitment to source more sustainable products for our onboard service, and our Mananalu partnership helps us continue to phase-out single-use plastics and protect our oceans and environment,” Avi Mannis, chief marketing and communications officer at Hawaiian Airlines, said in a statement.
The move builds on Hawaiian Airlines’ efforts to make its operations more sustainable. The airline has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. According to the airline, the shift to Mananalu will reduce more than 140,000 plastic water bottles per year.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with Hawaiian Airlines. Together we’re reducing single-use plastic bottles on flights and removing plastic from our oceans. It’s perfect brand alignment,” said David Cuthbert, CEO of Mananalu.
For each bottle replaced in-flight, Mananalu also diverts another bottle from entering oceans and waterways through its work with Repurpose Global, a plastic action platform.
The water bottles are made from BPA-free aluminum, making them not only a more sustainable alternative to plastic, but a healthier one, too. BPA is linked to numerous health issues including metabolic and reproductive disorders.
Manunalu says its water is responsibly sourced and triple-filtered drinking water with added electrolytes and a neutral pH.
Jason Momoa, activist and entrepreneur
Momoa founded Mananalu in 2019, building on the Aquaman star’s passion for environmentalism. The Hawaiian native has lent his star power to a number of causes aimed at protecting the islands and oceans. In 2019, the actor joined activists at Mauna Kea, the dormant volcano on the island of Hawai’i to protest a proposed telescope on the sacred land.
Mananalu isn’t Momoa’s only business venture addressing climate change. Last year he partnered with So Ill on a line of vegan shoes and gear made from sustainable and recycled materials.
The shoes were a natural extension of his activism, he told Footwear News last year.
“Just thinking about sandals and all the waste that goes into it. Being in the islands where I was born and going to see my father, seeing all the flip flops, the sandals. If I could make something that was algae-based and you could put that in your garden and it’s completely compostable — that would be amazing,” he said.
Earlier this year, Momoa launched a new collection of sustainable eyewear with Electric with proceeds going to support Sustainable Coastlines Hawai’i.
“My friends run deep in the surf and moto culture and introduced me to the Electric brand,” Momoa said in a statement. “I loved the eyewear styles and wanted to create an earth-friendly collaboration with my personal touch to wear and help give back to charities protecting Hawai’i.”
The star has also taken his message to world leaders at the U.N., urging them to take immediate action on climate change. “We are a disease infecting our planet… From the atmosphere to the Abyssal Zone, we are polluted,” he said in 2019 at the Global Assembly.
“We are the living consequence of forgotten traditions. We suffer the collective amnesia of a truth that was once understood. The truth that to cause irreversible damage to the earth, is to bring the same onto ourselves. We the island nations and all coastal communities are the front lines of this climate crisis,” he said.
“We can no longer afford the luxury of half-assing it as we willingly force ourselves beyond the threshold of no return,” Momoa warned. “As a human species we need the earth to survive. And make no mistake, it doesn’t need us.”
