Science and TechnologyWritten evidence submitted by British Airways

Introduction

British Airways welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Science and Technology Select Committee’s inquiry into UK Engineering Skills.

British Airways is one of the world’s leading global premium airlines and the UK’s largest international scheduled airline, carrying approximately 35 million passengers worldwide annually, on around 800 daily flights. The airline employs around 40,000 people, the vast majority of these at its sites throughout the UK, and has an annual turnover of £8.5 billion.

The airline’s two main operating bases are London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with a smaller base at London City airport serving New York and European business destinations. From these three, British Airways flies 279 aircraft, to 173 destinations, in more than 80 countries. In addition to passengers, the airline also transports cargo—more than 785,000 tonnes of cargo are carried around the globe each year.

In 2010, the airline completed its merger with Iberia of Spain to create the International Airlines Group (IAG). Our combined business offers flights to 205 destinations throughout the world on a fleet of 415 aircraft. It also commenced a joint business agreement with American Airlines, which further extends benefits for its customers. The combined network of British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines serves 453 destinations in more than 105 countries with over 5,180 daily departures.

In April of this year IAG completed its purchase of British Midland Limited (bmi) from Lufthansa. The bmi mainline business has been integrated into the British Airways business. This acquisition will provide British Airways with the opportunity to expand its network and provide major improvements for customers.

Summary

British Airways believes there is a gap in the workforce skill set, in our view due to the fundamental lack of focus on manufacturing, engineering and technical skills in recent years when academic subjects have been more of the focus.

The Government’s introduction of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) is a positive development because they provide an effective model to develop the skills needed in engineering. We welcome any initiative that encourages the uptake of technical subjects and especially encourages more women to enter into the world of engineering.

The Welsh Government have been hugely supportive in producing a technically skilled workforce. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the engineering and manufacturing sectors in Scotland, and is improving its long-standing support for business. In the future we hope the Westminster Government’s policy on engineering skills will broaden its focus and provide more support for larger employers in England.

British Airways believes that the Government urgently needs to ensure that children are made aware of technical subjects as early as possible in their school life.

Engineering should be promoted as a valid and valuable career path across schools, further education establishments, in the adult career service, in the media and throughout Government. The old clichés about the industry need to be set aside and the industry presented as a new, modern forward-thinking sector.

Background

British Airways is one of only two UK airlines to undertake its major maintenance checks in-house in the UK, the other being Monarch Airlines. The Engineering team is critical to delivering the airline’s operation of 800 daily flights across the world safely, and for looking after many other airlines’ aircraft at our key global bases.

British Airways Engineering is a £900 million business employing more than 5,200 engineers in a broad range of highly-skilled and technical roles across facilities in the South East of England, South Wales and Scotland. There are three operations in South Wales—B747 and B777 aircraft heavy maintenance at Cardiff Airport (employing almost 900 engineers and support teams); Avionics overhaul and repair at Llantrisant (250 employees) and Interiors maintenance at Blackwood (almost 250 people). British Airways Maintenance Glasgow, based at Glasgow Airport with a smaller operation at Prestwick, undertakes heavy maintenance on Airbus and B737 aircraft and employs 300 engineers.

In 2010, we introduced two apprenticeship schemes in Engineering in London after a gap of 16 years as we restructured our mainstream business. These are run in partnership with four colleges in the South East—Brooklands, Farnborough, Kingston and Uxbridge.

Also in 2010, the Industrial Apprentice programme began with an intake of 90 students. This has since risen to 120 in both 2011 and 2012. The Business Support scheme, where students learn and develop knowledge of areas such as inventory, planning, commercial, safety, quality, Human resources, communications etc, has grown from an initial intake of 15 in 2010 to 20 in both 2011 and 2012.

We also run apprenticeship programmes in South Wales and in Glasgow to support our heavy maintenance facilities. The schemes at both sites pre-date those run at Heathrow Airport. In addition, we have an Engineering graduate programme for 10 graduates each year.

In 2012, British Airways Engineering will have recruited almost 600 people—more than 250 mechanics and licensed aircraft engineers; 155 engineering colleagues from bmi; 140 apprentices; 10 graduates and 30 others from across the business and externally into other technical and general roles.

1. Does the current engineering skills base meet the needs of employers? Do employers in the engineering sector prefer an academic or a vocational profile?

1.1 The applicants and intake for industrial apprentices are of a high standard academically. However, they lack hand skills and airmanship, by which we mean an understanding of working in an industrial area and of safety and regulatory requirements in an engineering situation. There is also a significant lack of awareness of the impact that poor standards of airmanship can have.

1.2 Business apprentices often seem to have a better awareness, although many are still unprepared for life in a working environment.

1.3 Generally, there are problems recruiting technical instructors and aircraft qualified people. Around British Airways key maintenance bases there is no engineering base or “cluster” in West London, which makes recruitment difficult. In South Wales the situation is easier, and in Scotland, we struggle to find qualified engineers.

1.4 There is a gap in the workforce skill set, due we believe, to the fundamental lack of focus on manufacturing, engineering and technical skills in recent years when academic subjects have been more of the focus.

1.5 British Airways does not have a preference between a more vocational or academic profile. There are advantages to both vocational and academic, depending on the role. All our apprentices require five GCSEs at C grade or above, including Maths and English, and they will learn valuable skills and experience on the job.

2. What impact will recent changes relating to engineering qualifications in England have on the uptake of technical subjects and the skills base needed by the engineering sector?

2.1 The Government’s introduction of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) is a positive development because they provide an effective model to develop the skills needed in engineering. British Airways announced earlier this year that we will be partnering one of the first 15 UTCs to be created. We welcome any initiative that encourages the uptake of technical subjects and especially encourages women to enter into the world of engineering.

2.2 Only 4–5% of our industrial apprentices are female, reflecting accurately the proportion of applicants. Our experience is that at 16 years of age, females entering engineering are often more focused and determined than males of a similar age.

2.3 The business support scheme is more balanced, with a 50–50% gender split.

3. How do the approaches taken by the Devolved Administrations to produce a technically skilled workforce differ to the current approach in England? What are the strengths/weaknesses of the different approaches?

3.1 In Wales, the Welsh Government and its pre-devolution Welsh Development Agency have been hugely supportive in producing a technically skilled workforce. The support extends across apprenticeship, training and development programmes, and has encouraged us to make conscious training decisions to move facilities to Wales. For example, we are currently considering an option to base a new composites facility that will require new skills and technology in South Wales, with a satellite at London Heathrow, based on the support available locally to undertake this specialist training and development.

3.2 British Airways has also entered into a partnership with the University of Glamorgan to offer a BSc in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, under the auspices of our Civil Aviation Authority Part 147 designation as an approved training organisation. This course combines the airline’s technical training with the university’s degree programme. In September 2012, 61 students enrolled on the three year course, of which the vast majority are expected to enter into industry with an academic qualification and having completed the industry standard European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) part 66 training, awarded under British Airways’ licence. The Aircraft Maintenance Engineering course will benefit not just British Airways, but the aviation industry more widely in the UK, as a “regeneration of the gene pool” for the industry.

3.3 The need “for regeneration of the gene pool” is similar to the situation experienced in the 1980s and 1990s, when British Airways last ran its apprenticeship programmes. The knock-on effect at that time was a network of small and medium sized aviation and engineering businesses in West London and in the Heathrow area. These SMEs relied on large businesses such as British Airways to train apprentices and develop them into engineers, many of whom then moved into the SMEs to impart their skills and knowledge.

3.4 The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the engineering and manufacturing sectors in Scotland, and is improving its long-standing support for business. Although it currently lags behind the Welsh Government in its breadth and depth of support, it is attempting to close the gap and the signs are encouraging.

3.5 In the future we hope the Westminster Government’s policy on engineering will broaden its focus and provide more support for larger employers in England. It is our experience that there is a lack of interest in supporting large employers, with the focus firmly centred on SMEs. However, this policy overlooks the key fact that it is the bigger businesses that undertake the greater investments in training and development; that create more jobs, many aimed at 16–19 year olds; and whose activities have a positive knock-on effect for the SMEs as outlined above.

3.6 Aviation engineering suffers further from a lack of targeted support at the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). Although the Department is to be commended for its support of the specialist aerospace and manufacturing sectors, aviation maintenance engineering, as undertaken by British Airways and other companies throughout the UK, does not fall into either sector as defined by BIS.

4. Could the Government and others do more to raise the status of technical subjects?

4.1 British Airways believes that the Government urgently needs to ensure that children are made aware of technical subjects as early as possible in their school life. Nursery and primary school education should promote science and engineering, and create a culture that values these subjects as much as English, Maths, Art, Music and Physical Education.

4.2 At the secondary school level, some schools are reluctant to open the door to engineering as an option for students, preferring instead to focus on academia and pushing students towards universities rather than practical roles and apprenticeships.

4.3 We believe there needs to be a review of what schools aim to achieve. Is their aim to maximise academic potential and pass exams, or is it to prepare children for a working life, and to maximise the potential of the individual in their chosen career?

4.4 Careers advisors should be recruited from, or at least supported by industry, under a revised joint business and Government approach to careers advice. We would encourage Government to work with the careers service in order to connect business, Local Employment Partnerships and schools.

4.5 Teachers and parents should be targeted in order to educate them of the value of engineering as a career, and Government and others should engage with employers to do this. We do not have a view as to whether Government actually carries out this role or simply provides funding or resources for businesses and employers to do so—but it is vital that it does happen.

5. What more should be done to attract and retain a more diverse technically skilled workforce?

5.1 Engineering should be promoted as a valid and valuable career path across schools, further education establishments, in the adult career service, in the media and throughout Government.

5.2 The old clichés about the industry need to be set aside and the industry presented as a new, modern forward-thinking sector. Much is discussed about the need to rebalance the economy—the same rebalancing should be applied to the employment market, with more encouragement and focus given to careers developing skills and technology.

5.3 Many engineering positions today are highly-technical roles that involve anticipating or solving problems, designing specialist technical systems, planning sophisticated modifications, etc, without the need for spanners, grease and dirty hands. It is also a challenging and evolving industry that rewards engineers with stimulation, job satisfaction and skills for life. Greater recognition of these personal benefits and the value of the sector generally to UK business is welcome, and would attract people to engineering.

November 2012