Supporting the next generation: East Midlands Airport celebrates International Youth Day

cadets

Held every year on 12 August, International Youth Day was set up by the United Nations to recognise the important role young people play in their communities and to raise awareness of the challenges they face.

East Midlands is using the occasion to showcase its growing commitment to helping young people build brighter futures.

One scheme sees the airport take on a dozen cadets every year from Aviation Management and Travel & Tourism courses run by Loughborough and Nottingham Colleges. During the summer holidays, they join the airport’s Customer Ambassadors, a 17-strong team of staff who help customers in a number of ways.

They will often be found in the busiest parts of the airport, or during any disruption to flights, to be on hand to provide friendly help and advice. They also help with queue management, assist customers using passport e-gates and signpost people to airport facilities. Cadets may also be placed with the Assisted Travel team, which provides one-to-one assistance for those who need it on their journey through the airport and onto their aircraft.

As the cadets undertake the same training as staff in these roles, and gain valuable experience during their holidays, the airport is able to offer them jobs once they have completed their courses. Many permanent staff at the airport are now made up of cadets from previous intakes, with some now even going on to become the next generation of supervisors within the terminal.

Two of this year’s cohort are Jack Mellott and Macey Pollard from Nottingham College. Jack said: “Helping people who are less mobile to go on holiday is very rewarding, most people are really thankful as we are making a difference to their day. It makes me feel amazing every day.” Macey said: “I love it. Everything we learn in college is put into perspective here and you get to see how different people work with each other and how everything links together.”

East Midlands Airport is also proud that it was the first in the UK to establish an Aerozone in 2010, a bespoke on-site education facility to provide insight and inspiration in aviation for four to 18-year-olds. Almost 33,000 children and young people have attended in that time, with 80 schools from surrounding areas participating.

Meanwhile the East Midlands Airport Academy runs twelve two-week courses per year for adult learners, providing an industry-recognised ‘Introduction to the Aviation Industry’ accredited qualification, with 34% of attendees finding work after completion. Operating in partnership with Nottingham College, the Academy supported 5,481 people in 2024/5.

The airport also has a Youth Forum open to young people aged between 17-25 who are either in an apprenticeship or attending a local Sixth form, College or University. A Youth Summit has been hosted at East Midlands for the last two years focused on how to achieve a sustainable future for aviation, bringing Youth Forums from Manchester and Stansted Airports with East Midlands.

An annual Jobs Fair is also run by the airport to attract job seekers to a wide range of opportunities, from customer services and security, to positions in the retail and food outlets, with 1,200 attendees at this year’s event.

Marcella M’Rabety, Head of Social Sustainability at MAG, said: “Young people are the future for our business and our communities. We’re proud to help them build the skills and confidence they need to achieve their goals.”

East Midlands Airport’s Head of Terminal Operations Harry Winter said: “The cadets scheme really benefits everybody – the cadets gain great real-life experience and responsibilities in a paid role, and the terminal gains several friendly and enthusiastic helpers to aid our Customer Ambassador and Assisted Travel teams at the busiest times of year for us.

“This is just one of many ways that the airport reaches out to local communities to connect young people to the opportunities that exist here in a wide variety of roles.”