Aviation Skills Partnership reveals latest ‘Aviation Skills Manifesto’

Aviation Skills Partnership (ASP) recently held its annual ‘Aviation Skills Manifesto’ update at the House of Commons, using the platform to announce a new collaboration with Cranfield University. The two will now consider ways to work on a wide range of programmes that will help young people achieve careers in the industry.

The news formed part of a wider vision laid out at the event by Founder and Chief Executive of ASP, Simon Witt, who declared, “People have always had a fascination with aviation, but we rarely see that interest and excitement translating into careers. There is a whole pool of talent out there, but the onus is on us to make our industry accessible to the right people by providing the right infrastructure at a local, regional, national and international level.

“Working together with airlines, operators, universities, colleges, schools and training providers, we are determined to provide the well-trained workforce of the future that the UK and international aviation industry so desperately needs and deserves,” he continued.

Guests at the Aviation Skills Manifesto event also heard from Air Vice-Marshal Mike Wigston CBE, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, who spoke about the Royal Air Force’s collaboration with ASP to build the Aaron Aerospace Academy at RAF Syerston in Nottinghamshire.

Wigston commented, “In 2018 we mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force - an opportunity to commemorate the proud history of the Service, to celebrate who we are and what we do on behalf of the nation today, and, most importantly to inspire a new generation about the RAF and the aerospace industry more widely. We are delighted to be working with ASP to develop a national network of aerospace training and education excellence, starting with the new academy at RAF Syerston.”

In 2017, the Aviation Skills Partnership opened its first International Aviation Academy in Norwich, developed with Norse Group in conjunction with Norfolk County Council and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership. It is the first of many planned by ASP over the next few years.