CGC Oakgrove Ebook 3.0

Aviation

Sector Outlook The UK has the third largest aviation network in the world and is a global hub for travel with a turnover of £60 billion. The industry sector covers airlines, airpor ts and ground handling operations. Around 600,000 people are employed and together manage over 247 million passengers a year. There are a variety of oppor tunities for those wanting to work in the sector from operations, finance, maintenance to hospitality and business services. Heathrow Airpor t has one of the largest employment sites in the United Kingdom with over 76,600 people working within the airpor t boundary. The expansion of the airpor t’s third runway could see a fur ther 180,000 jobs created. As with other airpor ts, it generates employment oppor tunities elsewhere at a local, regional and national level within its supply chain. Recruitment personnel are keen to raise awareness of airpor t career. Some of the skills needed include polite professionalism, ability to handle pressure, problem solving, IT skills, planning and team work. Many employers offer apprenticeship and graduate programmes. To get an idea of the variety of jobs available within the airpor t industry consider the following vacancies currently being adver tised by the major airpor ts across the UK: aviation security officer, airfield ground lighting technician, engineering apprentice, airpor t despatcher, aircraft groomer, expor t clerk, senior chef de par tie, airline catering delivery driver, beauty therapist, fashion and lifestyle manager, sales assistant, freelance quantity surveyor, commercial co-ordinator, project analyst, office manager, HR repor ting specialist and supply chain manager; the list goes on. To search for oppor tunities you can look at aviation magazines, direct career pages with airpor ts or on select websites such as www.aviationjobsearch.com. Growth areas include private airpor ts, regional airpor t hubs and low cost airlines. Forecasters predict a growing shor tage of pilots with only 6% being women. So if you are prepared to pay your way, this may be wor th considering.