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vide some answers. The same sort of search
will yield plenty of offers from fight training
organisations and some technical colleges.
But cost is a serious factor and advice on fi-
nance, grants, apprenticeships, student loans
or tax relief is harder to come by.
Enter Simon Witts, founder of Aviation
Skills Partnership (ASP). Responsible a dec-
ade ago for setting up and running the Flybe
Training Academy at Exeter airport, Witts no-
ticed at that time that there was poor co-ordi-
nation between UK education and training
institutions and the aviation industry. He be-
lieved they could all serve each other’s needs
much better than they were doing.
Witts set about a root-and-branch analysis
of the disparate elements, intending to bring
the enablers together and help them act more
like a system, making it easier and more at-
tractive for those who wanted a career in avia-
tion to prepare for it. His vision was of a sys-
tem that would motivate youngsters from the
time they first recognised their interest in avi-
ation at school, and maintain that enthusiasm
all the way through education and training
into their career.
In January at the Palace of Westminster,
Witts addressed an invited audience with an
interest in improving the quality and availa-
bility of technical skills related to aviation,
including members of parliament, business
leaders, educators, trainers and academics.
He explained: “People have always had a fas-
cination with aviation, but we rarely see that
interest and excitement translating into ca-
reers. There is a whole pool of talent out
there, but the onus is on us to make our indus-
try accessible to the right people by providing
the right infrastructure at a local, regional, na-
tional and international level.”
ASP sets out to provide career training
pathways not just for engineers, pilots and air
traffic controllers, but for potential airport op-
erations executives, airline operations and
crewing staff, cabin crew and airport ground
handling management.
An example of someone who benefited
from ASP co-ordination and advice is Anna
McGrady, now a first officer with EasyJet. In
2013 she set out from school intending to do a
science degree and then train as an airline
pilot. But through meeting Witts while inves-
tigating a flying training course at what was
then CTC Aviation (now L3 Commercial Avi-
ation Solutions) she learned that she could
combine study for a BSc degree in Profession-
al Aviation Pilot Practice (PAPP) with CTC’s
flying training.
She and fellow student pilot Steven Had-
ley – who was also focused on the same ob-
jective – were the first two students to enrol
on the new PAPP BSc course. They graduat-
ed in 2017. By that time, they had been work-
ing on the line with EasyJet for two years.
The airline provided them with mentoring
for their degree work, which, as they describe
it, included reflective writing on all aspects
of their aviating job, including threat and
error management.
On the student engineer front, Tom Emms
set out into aviation from school by doing a
Level 3 City and Guilds course in aircraft en-
gineering at Newcastle College. He is now
doing a BSc degree in Aircraft Engineering ac-
credited by Kingston University, but he is car-
rying it out at KLM UK Engineering, based at
the new ASP International Aviation Acade-
my, Norwich (IAA-N).
Witts’ initiatives in bringing together edu-
cational institutions, central and local govern-
ment and industry will result in the creation
of a series of international aviation academies
throughout the country. The first such unit to
go live is IAA-N, operating in partnership
with Norwich County Council, the New An-
glia Local Enterprise Partnership, KLM UK
Engineering, City College Norwich and the
University of East Anglia.RAF CONNECTION
The next ASP academy – Aaron Aviation
Academy – has a strong connection to the
Royal Air Force. It will be up and running at
RAF Syerston in Nottinghamshire next year
as an RAF Air Cadets and ASP joint venture.
ASP’s Whittle Engineering Academy will
be set up at the RAF’s centre of engineering
excellence at RAF Cosford in Shropshire,
while Scotland will soon host the Internation-
al Aviation Academy, Dundee, based at the
city’s airport.ASP helped plan a £12 million ($16.8 mil-
lion) aerospace and technology college to be
set up at Biggin Hill Airport, in partnership
with London South East colleges and funded
by the Greater London Authority. To be
known as the London Aerospace and Tech-
nology College (LATC) it is, however, not to
be an academy in the ASP style, but a tradi-
tional technical college that will produce
qualified engineers and mechanical, electron-
ic and service technicians and ground crew.
London deputy mayor for planning, regen-
eration and skills, Jules Pipe, says: “It’s vital
we tackle the skills gap in aviation, and the
LATC will help to keep London at the cutting
edge of aviation technology.”
The problems the aviation industry has
had with attracting well-educated people can-
not be blamed on a lack visibility – aviation is
highly visible. But it has come to be perceived
as unattainable for ordinary mortals. This has
not been helped by the airlines’ inconsistency
in their recruiting policies in the last few dec-
ades, driven by nervous accountants. They
have less of an excuse for that now, given that
the industry has consolidated and matured in
its new form, margins are better and profits
are more reliable than they were through the
1980s and 1990s, and then the early 2000s
when the shock of 9/11 hurt them badly.
This year the RAF is celebrating its cente-
nary, which will enhance its already-high vis-
ibility in the UK. Meanwhile the world’s taste
for air travel is growing, and the air freight in-
dustry is doing well. So the airlines had better
make sure they can recruit the trained staff
they will need while the good times roll. ■EasyJet is among the airlines which have embraced innovation in attracting young engineersEasyJetTRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Recruitment