easyJet Celebrates Mother’s Day by Inspiring Young Girls to Pursue STEM Careers Through Behind-the-Scenes Workplace Tours
- This Mother’s Day, easyJet invited daughters to join their high-flying mothers at work in a bid to inspire the next generation of pilots, engineers and data scientists
- 10 year old Harriet joined pilot mum Debbie Thomas at Luton airport to explore the flight deck of an A320 easyJet aircraft and budding young maths whizz, Amaryllis had the chance to learn from her physicist mum, Nikoletta, what it takes to be a Senior Data Analyst for easyJet
- Airline’s campaign aims to raise awareness of STEM career opportunities in aviation including apprenticeships in Engineering, Data, Artificial Intelligence and challenge traditional gendered stereotypes of the professions
- Recent research has suggested number of women starting STEM apprenticeships won’t catch up with men for over 20 years
- As part of its ongoing work to support early careers, easyJet has launched a team of Enterprise Advisors to support local schools with dedicated careers advice and is funding opportunities for young women and young people from black, asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to launch a career in aviation through a new partnership with Fantasy Wings
London, UK, 2023-Mar-14 — /Travel PR News/ — For this Mother’s Day, some of easyJet’s high-flying parents took their daughters behind the scenes at work, in a bid to inspire the next generation of women in STEM,
The airline is raising awareness of STEM career opportunities in aviation and in professions where women are underrepresented across the industry, including its apprenticeships in Engineering, IT, Data and Artificial Intelligence, as well as it’s Graduate Programmes in Engineering and Finance and its industry renowned airline pilot training programme.
The move seeks to bust traditional gendered stereotypes of these professions and encourage more young women to explore these careers, by showing young people that all jobs are for everyone. It follows recent research which has suggested that based on current trends, it would take 22 years (until 2044) for the same number of women to be starting STEM apprenticeships as men.*
First Officer Debbie Thomas, an airline pilot at easyJet and former engineer, was joined by 10 year old daughter Harriet for a day at Luton airport where the pair explored Debbie’s office – the flight deck of an A320 easyJet aircraft. Harriet was shown the controls by her mum and practiced making a pilot’s passenger announcement.
Harriet said: “It was so fun to see my mum at her work, I think her job is amazing which is why I want to be a pilot just like her when I grow up.”
Amaryllis, aged seven, joined her mother Nikoletta, at work ahead of Mother’s Day. The budding young maths whizz had the chance to learn from her physicist mum, what it takes to be a Senior Data Analyst for easyJet. The pair spent the day analysing baggage data and trends, meeting colleagues across the business and attending meetings the airline’s head office at Luton Airport.
Nikoletta said, “This was a brilliant and important opportunity to bring Amaryllis to work with me and show her what a job in Data is all about. With fewer women than men starting STEM apprenticeships in the last year and research even showing that that number is falling compared to previous years, it’s critical to raise awareness of the incredible variety of jobs available in the industry and in those STEM roles from a young age.”
easyJet offers 17 apprenticeships ranging from Engineering to Data and Artificial Intelligence and Business Analytics as well as beyond STEM in HR, Legal and Leadership, providing opportunities not just for school leavers and graduates but for continuous professional development that allow people to progress and excel in their careers
The campaign is part of the airline’s ongoing work to support employability and early careers opportunities and to drive a more diverse community within the airline and the aviation industry as a whole.
It follows the launch of a partnership with leading diversity in aviation youth organisation Fantasy Wings to provide young people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and young women with greater opportunity to launch a career in the industry, through Fantasy Wings’ aviation career development programme. easyJet is sponsoring places for students from 50 schools across the UK to join the programme, which is designed to equip young people with the necessary tools they need to succeed in the industry and land their first-time role through skills development, practical knowledge training, career mentorship by industry leaders and even flight training.
The airline has also launched a team of Enterprise Advisors – easyJet employees from across the business including Engineering and Maintenance, IT and Data and Operations – who are partnered with local schools in the Luton and Gatwick areas, home to the airline’s largest UK operations, to provide careers advice and employability support to young people.
Since 2016, the airline’s Pilot School Visit’s programme has seen pilots visit hundreds of schools up and down the country for young people to learn more about the career, focused on encouraging more girls to become an airline pilot. Schools and parents can request a visit from an easyJet pilot by contacting pilotvisits@easyJet.com.
More information on all career opportunities with easyJet can be found at https://careers.easyjet.com.
Notes to editors
* Analysis by the Labour Party conducted as part of National Apprenticeship Week
About easyJet
easyJet is Europe’s leading airline offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe’s primary airports, with great value fares and friendly service.
easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline and carried more than 69 million passengers in 2022 – with 9.5 million travelling for business. The airline has over 300 aircraft on nearly 1000 routes to more than 150 airports across 35 countries. Over 300 million Europeans live within one hour’s drive of an easyJet airport.
easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in eight countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports several local charities and has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £16m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.
The airline joined the UN-backed Race to Zero in November 2021 and has published its roadmap to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with a focus on new technology and the ultimate ambition to achieve zero carbon emission flying across its entire fleet, which the airline is working on together with its partners including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace, Cranfield Aerospace Solutions and Wright Electric. The roadmap also features a combination of fleet renewal, operational efficiencies, airspace modernisation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel and carbon removal technology. Additionally, it includes an interim carbon emissions intensity reduction target of 35% by 2035 (versus 2019). Since 2000, the airline has already reduced its carbon emissions per passenger, per kilometre by one-third through continued fleet renewal, efficient operations and aiming to fill most of its seats.
Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA – since launching over 25 years ago, easyJet changed the way people fly to the present day where the airline leads the industry in digital, web, engineering and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for its passengers.
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Source: easyJet
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