Flybe celebrates National Airlines Day with visit from local schools
Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, welcomed a group of seven high school students to its Exeter HQ as part of National Airlines Day to experience a glimpse into the world of aviation.
The invited students were from St. Peter’s C of E School in Exeter, Sidmouth College and Maiden Beech Academy in Crewkerne, all of whom won the opportunity to attend this special event during this summer’s hugely successful Big Bang South West in Exeter, an careers’ day for schools which highlighted opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths careers.
During the National Airlines Day visit, they had a guided tour of Flybe’s maintenance hangar where they met second-year apprentices studying for Flybe’s aircraft maintenance programme who are getting real experience in the hangar as part of their journey to becoming fully qualified aircraft technicians.
The students also met some first-year apprentices at the Flybe Training Academy workshops before enjoying a session in Flybe’s new aircraft simulator where they tried their hands at flying a virtual 737, with all seven achieving flawless take-offs and landings!
Paul J Thompson, Flybe’s Director of Maintenance, said: “We were delighted to welcome the highly motivated students to our headquarters to give them a taste of what it is like to work in aviation. It gave them the opportunity to see some of the ‘real-world’ applications of STEM subjects in our hangar, workshops and Training Academy. Hopefully, they are now even more inspired and we’ll be seeing them back here as colleagues when they are older!”
The visit to Flybe was part of a wider programme of visits and events taking place across the country to support the inaugural UK National Airlines Day, including the Airlines 2050 summit which saw speakers across industry and Government discuss plans for the future of UK aviation and the importance of stepping up plans to decarbonise the sector in line with the UK’s net zero ambition.
Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of Airlines UK, commented: “It was fantastic that airlines across the UK opened their doors to students – tomorrow’s pilots, crew and engineers - as a part of the inaugural National Airlines Day, celebrating the important economic and social value of aviation to the UK and the importance of securing its sustainable future.”
