- Unique airside tour of Gatwick designed to encourage both mothers and daughters to consider careers in engineering
- Female engineering apprentice was on hand to inspire the visitors and talk through her experience at the airport
- Tour included learning how aircraft park with a laser guided system
LONDON, UK, 2019-Sep-25 — /Travel PR News/ — Gatwick provided an exclusive insight into engineering at the airport – on 19th September – in an event designed to encourage both mothers and daughters to work in the industry.
Seventy-seven pupils and mothers from Millais all-girls school in Horsham had a tour of the airfield, fire station, and learned, in real time, how aircraft are parked through a laser guided system.
Another practical display by Gatwick’s fire service helped develop an understanding of the factors involved when putting out fires on aircraft.
Liberty Frankland, a female engineering apprentice at Gatwick spoke to the visitors about her personal experience and to highlight the importance of taking up Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects when following her chosen career path.
By hosting the day, the airport is aiming to change the perception of STEM-related careers as being predominantly for males, and to encourage more women and girls to take up STEM subjects if they wish to pursue a career in engineering.
The event is part of Gatwick’s Community Engagement programme, which supports projects that have a lasting, positive impact on large numbers of local people across the region.
Gatwick also recently announced that it is partnering with 20 local schools to get kids thinking about engineering.
Tony Yates, Head of Engineering at Gatwick Airport, said: “We were delighted to have the mums and daughters of Millais Girl’s school visit the airport. It is so important that women of all ages don’t view the engineering industry as a male-dominated environment. We believe that promoting the opportunities that STEM careers can lead to at the airport is a good step forward in giving the industry a better gender profile, which could also help improve productivity.”
Liberty Frankland, an engineering apprentice at Gatwick Airport said: “I decided an apprenticeship was for me as I wanted to continue studying and learning more, but I wanted the experience and context to what I was learning which I felt I couldn’t get from going straight to university.
“The airport is a great place to learn more about engineering and other technical or science based subjects and I hope that this day will help to inspire other students into considering careers in these subjects.”
About Gatwick Airport
Gatwick is the UK’s second largest airport. It serves more than 230 destinations in 74 countries for 46 million passengers a year on short and long-haul point-to-point services. Gatwick is also a major economic driver and generates around 85,000 jobs nationally, with 24,000 of these located on the airport.
Since May 2019, a new long-term partnership was formed with VINCI Airports who purchased a 50.01% stake in the airport. This partnership sees Gatwick Airport integrate into the network of VINCI Airports, the leading private airport operator in the world, which manages the development and operation of 46 airports across the globe. Served by around 250 airlines, VINCI Airports’ network handled 240 million passengers in 2018 – including traffic at London Gatwick. VINCI Airports develops, finances, builds and operates airports, leveraging its investment capability, international network and know-how to optimise performance of existing airport infrastructure, facility extensions and new-build construction projects.
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which manages the remaining 49.99% interest in Gatwick, is an independent infrastructure investor that makes equity investments in high quality infrastructure assets in the energy, transport and water/waste sectors. GIP has US$56 billion of Assets under Management. Its 18 portfolio companies operate in over 50 countries with circa 54,000 employees and generate annual revenues of circa US$50 billion.
For more information on VINCI Airports please www.vinci-airports.com and for more information on GIP please visit http://global-infra.com.
Media enquiries to:
GATWICK AIRPORT PRESS OFFICE
+ 44 (0) 1293 505000
gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com
Source: GATWICK AIRPORT