Aviation chiefs launch UK-wide flight campaign
UK aviation chiefs have joined forces to launch a widescale public awareness campaign to highlight the importance of flights to local economies.
Posters are to be displayed at airports showing how many jobs and services are dependent on air services and local MPs will be sent bespoke mailings with local authority figures showing how many people are employed directly and indirectly by the aviation industry in their area.
The Aviation Foundation, set up by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow and Manchester Airport parent MAG, claims aviation directly employs 220,000 people in the UK and thousands of businesses depend on the services provided by this workforce.
As part of its new Great British Flying Test public awareness campaign, it made a film in Carlisle, the town furthest away from a major international airport, to show how even here "a striking number of people" rely on aviation. Carlisle is about 80 miles from Glasgow airport and 256 miles north of Heathrow.
The film will be shown on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights from January and a link to the film will be included in the mailings sent to MPs. Over the next few weeks, the same information will be sent to Peers and local authority CEOs and other influential figures.
The Aviation Foundation claims that goods worth £60bn were exported by air last year, almost 3m people work in tourism, a sector heavily dependent on air travel, and some 3.7m people in the Uk are employed by foreign-owned companies dependent on good air links.
Willie Walsh of BA parent IAG, Colin Matthews of Heathrow, Charlie Cornish of MAG and Steve Ridgway of Virgin Atlantic said in a joint statement: "Local businesses across the UK desperately need world-class air links. Britain has been a proud pioneer in aviation but we are in danger of taking this for granted and falling behind our better-connected competitors.
"We want to see a greater number of politicians championing aviation. Our Great British Flying Test campaign will be showing them how many of their constituents’ jobs depend on aviation and we look forward to discussing the results with them in the run-up to the next election."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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