Birmingham Airport flies the flag for Sustainability in new Airline Challenge
Published on Monday, 12 March 2018
A new eco-friendly airline
concept developed by students from Chelmsley Wood has been awarded first place
in The Birmingham Airport ‘Launch an Airline’ Challenge.
The winning team of six Year
10 airline rookies from Grace Academy Solihull pitched their persuasive new
‘green’ concept to a panel of five judges from Birmingham Airport in a
cross-school business challenge.
Forty-one Year 10 students
studying GCSE Business took part in the challenge involving 6 teams from
Cockshut Hill School, John Henry Newman Catholic College and Grace Academy
Solihull.
The students were tasked with
launching an airline involving coming up with an airline name, brand and logo,
and researching a new target market, financial plan and proposed destinations.
Customers on the winning
eco-friendly ‘European Airlines’ flights would enjoy interiors made with 100%
recyclable materials, reduced noise pollution during take-off and landing, the
opportunity to buy Fair Trade goods, and eco-friendly fuel.
Student Alfie McHugo from the
winning team, said:
“I really enjoyed taking part
in the Birmingham Airport Challenge and learning about the aviation industry.
My team and I researched the airline industry and used this information to come
up with a new eco-friendly airline concept. The challenge really helped me to
strengthen my presentation and team-work skills.”
The panel of judges included
Sarah Collyer, Communications Officer at Birmingham Airport, who said:
“We chose Grace Academy
Solihull as the overall winners as they really presented something original and
different to us with their consideration of eco-friendly aircrafts and on-board
products.
“Their delivery was
professional and clear and we really felt that they considered all the points
we had guided them to take into consideration. Other schools also did extremely
well and there were some lovely ideas raised.”
Andy Holding, Corporate
Responsibility Manager at Birmingham Airport, commented:
“It was great to be able to
bring the students to the airport for this exercise to get them thinking about
the commercial side of aviation in an airport setting. We were impressed by the
level of team work shown and the original ideas many of the schools presented.
“Assisting local schools with
their curriculum by opening up our learning hub facility and involving airport
staff really shows our commitment to corporate social responsibility and giving
back to local communities.”
Nancy Sira, Head of Business
Studies at Grace Academy Solihull said that taking part in The Birmingham
Airport Challenge had been an extremely valuable and exciting opportunity for
students, adding:
“The challenge allowed
students to develop many transferable skills such as communication, team-work
and research, all skills that will be extremely valuable in the workforce.
Students found it really insightful working with local employer Birmingham Airport
and delving deeper into the world of aviation and all the jobs associated with
the airport.”
The winning team of Grace
Academy students were Alfie McHugo, Amelia McKeever, Shelby Howells, Daniel
Cliff, Ben Hughes and Elliott Cusack, who were each awarded a £20 Amazon Gift
card and a box of chocolates.
The day was organised by
Ahead Partnership, who aim to connect employers with education and public and
private sector partners to widen their community impact. The Challenge is
part of the Ahead Partnership’s ‘Make the Grade’ programme which has benefitted
over 100,000 young people so far.
Explaining the value of
challenges like this for local students, Stephanie Burras CBE, Chief Executive,
Ahead Partnership, said:
“Joining employers and
schools together to help students work on a real-life challenge like this is
what our ‘Make the Grade’ programme is all about. Students learn from the
business professionals and build and recognise those core employability skills
that will stand them in excellent stead for their future careers. We’re
delighted to have Birmingham Airport as a visionary and dedicated partner
making experiences like this happen for young people in Birmingham.”