Who’s behind Equal Skies?

The Equal Skies Charter is a collaboration between leading aviation accessibility advocates, Aerobility and Charter Founder Members:

  • Aerobility changes lives by providing anyone, with any disability with access to the magic and wonder of flight.

    We do this because taking the controls of an aircraft drives a focus on capability and encourages our flyers to ask the question ‘If I can fly an aeroplane, what else can I do?’

    This makes everything else in life feel that little bit more achievable, whilst offering the ultimate feeling of freedom and escape from restrictions of disability.

    Aerobility represents the needs of those living with disability in to aviation and is recognised as the leading expert in disabled flying.

  • We are the UK's leading provider of air traffic control services. In a typical year pre-Covid, we handle over 2.5 million flights and 250 million passengers travelling over the UK and across the North Atlantic.

    Outside of the UK we offer air traffic services to customers including airports, airlines, air traffic service providers and governments. We currently provide these across parts of Europe, the Middle East, North America and Asia.

  • Bristow is the leading global provider of innovative and sustainable vertical flight solutions. We have more than seven decades of experience in providing aviation operations across complex and demanding environments.

    Our global vertical lift operations span search and rescue, passenger transport, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopter maintenance, modification, repair, and sales. We provide civil and government customers and stakeholders around the world with safe, reliable and efficient aviation solutions.

    In our first sustainability report we highlighted the ways Bristow is working to create a fairer, accessible workplace through addressing inequalities and celebrating diversity. At Bristow we champion Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it leads to better decisions, more effective teams and safer operations.

    We are proud to add our name to the Equal Skies Charter and we are committed to upholding the principles it enshrines and supporting the behaviours it calls for across the industry.

  • 2Excel Aviation is an innovative aerospace and aviation services business working across industries from defence and security to engineering, commercial air transport and disaster response. Activity is organised around four lines of business: Capability Development, Special Missions, Charter, and Insight.

    With bases at Doncaster, Humberside, Southend, and Sywell, 2Excel’s customers include Government departments, defence, national infrastructure, the oil industry, and airline charter brokers.

    In 2018, 2Excel became 51 per cent employee-owned through the creation of an Employee Ownership Trust.

  • London Biggin Hill Airport is the UK’s fastest evolving business aviation airport. Over the last decade, sustained investment in new hangars and infrastructure has attracted global business, and there are today over 70 companies employing more than 1,000 people on the 500 acre site.

    Resident companies include Bombardier and Formula 1 – both major tech innovators employing highly skilled engineers, interns and apprentices, making London Biggin Hill the biggest job creator in the area.

    London Biggin Hill is committed to providing a sustainable future, which honours the airport’s history and secures a promising future, creating jobs and training a new generations for the UK aviation industry.

  • The University of West London (UWL), which is located just 7.5 miles from Heathrow Airport, has a wide range of airport, airline and aviation management undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses on offer to equip students with the skills they need to succeed in this dynamic and fast-moving industry. It has facilities, including its own Boeing 737 FlightPad flight simulator, which is also open to the public.

    UWL offers degree courses with a focus on management and tourism, alongside others that include commercial pilot training or qualification with a private pilot’s licence. Its postgraduate options are designed to build on and enhance candidates’ employability in air transport management, aviation management and international tourism. Many of these courses can be studied part time, meaning that students can continue working while achieving professional qualifications.

  • As the UK's aviation regulator we work so that:

    • The aviation industry meets the highest safety standards.

    • Consumers have choice, value for money, are protected and treated fairly when they fly.

    • Through efficient use of airspace, the environmental impact of aviation on local communities is effectively managed and CO2 emissions are reduced.

    • The aviation industry manages security risks effectively.

    We are a public corporation, established by Parliament in 1972 as an independent specialist aviation regulator. The UK Government requires that our costs are met entirely from charges to those we provide a service to or regulate.

  • Saxon Air is one of the UK’s leading providers of non-scheduled aviation services. Our fleet of aircraft is expertly operated and managed, positioned across bases in the London and East Anglia regions. We've earned the trust of a dedicated clientele who rely on us to provide safe, adaptable, and discreet air travel options via helicopters and business jets, not only within the UK but also throughout Europe and beyond. In addition to our charter flight services, our core offerings encompass the operation of two flight support facilities at Norwich Airport and comprehensive aircraft management solutions.

     

    Our commitment extends to our environmental responsibility, with a core focus to achieve Net Zero emissions by the year 2030. We are achieving this by reducing environmental impacts through carbon mitigation, the advancement of aviation technologies, and the fostering of collaborative partnerships. At Saxon Air, we're dedicated to shaping the future of aviation, with a strong emphasis on ensuring that the industry becomes an inclusive and diverse environment for all, facilitating positive transformations.

  • Located on the borders of Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, Blackbushe Airport is perfectly located for quick access both to central London, the Thames Valley, and south of England.

    There are a whole host of aviation activities at Blackbushe.  If you are a business jet user, Blackbushe is quicker, more convenient, and more cost-effective than all of the other London airports.

    We have flying schools for Fixed Wing and Helicopters onsite.

  • Evenbreak is a social enterprise run by and for disabled people. We aim to reduce the disability employment gap in three ways. We support employers to become more inclusive and accessible through training and consultancy and an online best practice portal.

    We offer inclusive and accessible careers support for disabled people looking for new or better work and we help each group to find each other through an award-winning global disability job board.

    All our services are designed and delivered by people with lived experience of disability.

  • We are a specialist technical recruitment consultancy and service provider with over 45 years of experience. Working in partnership with a wide range of companies from SMEs to global engineering brands, we support with anything from one-off permanent hires to fully managed workforce solutions, recruitment process outsourcing, statement of work, apprenticeships and training.

    With ambitious people at our heart, we’re driven by our ability to facilitate positive change. Connecting engineering specialists with the right talent, we go the extra mile to create bespoke solutions and powerful collaborations that support and accelerate the ever-evolving engineering industry, today and tomorrow.

  • Guidant Global provides global workforce management solutions (MSP, RPO & SOW) that help companies find the best contingent and permanent talent.

    We champion #ABetterWay – a forward-thinking way of working; moving away from the embedded staffing industry mentality of ‘recruitment by numbers’ and taking a wider perspective, by shifting the focus to people – the vibrant force that drives thriving businesses.

    We have unprecedented insight into the world at work. Guidant is active in 80+ countries, managing 200,000+ engagements, for 125+ clients each year. Global talent shortages are rife. Our insight helps businesses buck the trend to get the best talent.

  • Fafali Aircraft is developing nexgen aircraft that are energy source and powerplant agnostic with outstanding DGI (Diverse Geometry Inclusivity) to ensure that able bodied and disabled pilots and passengers have the best possible ingress and egress routes. For all pilots, the adjustability of rudder pedals, throttle quadrants and instrument pod provides a new level of accessibility in light aviation.

  • Metal Seagulls is a growing family business, managed by Patricia Mawuli Porter OBE (workshops, servicing, production) and Jonathan Porter (Operations and design), based in the beautiful county of Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, UK, representing Zenair, ULPower, DUC Helices propellers as well as providing outstanding solutions for custom fuel systems, custom parts, specialist developments, etc, providing a full service to those wanting to build, repair or adapt their own aircraft. Metal Seagulls has full CNC production capabilities with 4- and 5-axis machining and folding.

  • dnata is a leading global air and travel services provider. Established in 1959, the company offers quality and safe ground handling, cargo, travel, catering and retail services in 34 countries across six continents.