The Equal Skies Charter really took off in May with its first successful conference – Boarding Now: Destination Equal Skies 2024 – held at the London law firm Shoosmiths. The conference marked the first time that the aviation and aerospace industries have come together to discuss disability employment within the sector. This will change people with disabilities from passive stakeholders to active problem solvers for the industries.
This trailblazing event was well attended by HR professionals across the aviation industry and successfully built upon the charter’s work to improve employment outcomes within the aviation and aerospace industries.
What is the Equal Skies Charter?
The Equal Skies Charter is a collaborative endeavour which aims to ensure that the aviation and aerospace industries offer equal employment opportunities to people with disabilities. It also supports organisations to use this lived disability experience to improve journeys for service users with a disability.
The Equal Skies Charter’s partners include Aerobility, NATS, UK CAA, London Biggin Hill Airport, Evenbreak, 2Excel, Guidant Global, Carbon 60, dnata, The University of West London, Blackbushe Airport, Saxon Air, Fafali Aircraft, Metal Seagulls and Bristow Group.
Boarding Now: Destination Equal Skies 2024 conference highlights
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The key points for the day were positivity, networking and collaboration, these areas of focus fostered a community spirit throughout the event with different organisations working together to improve disability inclusion within the sector.
Guests, including representatives from NATS, London Heathrow and 2Excel, were able to share their experiences and positive stories as well as join productive discussions on how to move the industry further towards equity within the workforce. Some delegates were able to share firsthand their experiences of being a disabled employee in the sector and how straightforward onboarding a person with disabilities can be when the right questions are asked.
Keynote speakers included former actress, musician and all-round force of nature Charlotte Storey plus the Head of Future of Flight Engagement at NATS, Russell Porter, who spoke to delegates about BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) and how building accessibility into the future development of aviation is key.
The quality of discussion in the breakout rooms served well to prove that disabled people are renowned for their problem-solving skills; these so often borne out of necessity in their day-to-day lives.
The conference aimed to enlighten guests, be thought provoking and demonstrate simple steps to move organisations forward with disability inclusion.
Saffron from Disruptive Diversity was particularly taken by a statement from Charlotte Storey that “We should all remember that we are all only temporarily abled bodied.”
Louise from 2Excel said that simple measures such as moving the disability confident statement to the top of role descriptions would be a great place to start.
“It’s just really nice to connect with liked minded people who have the same vision and the same mission, work collectively and share best practice, it just makes so much more sense,” commented Brenda Jefcoate from the CAA.
At the end of the day guests were encouraged to note down their three commitments to a more equal sky for review at the 2025 conference, this will enable the charter to gain a real measurement of progress across the sector over the next twelve months.
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Find out more about The Equal Skies Charter by visiting equalskiescharter.org