Flybe sign Nation Skills Pledge

Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline based in Exeter, yesterday joined more than 150 leading employers from across England to meet Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown and other senior Government Ministers in Central London where they signed a Skills Pledge formalising their commitment to staff training.

The high profile public event heralded the fact that more than 1.7 million private and public sector employees are now covered by the Skills Pledge. Flybe is the only UK airline to make the voluntary commitment to support their employees in developing basic skills.

The Skills Pledge results from findings published in the Leitch Review of Skills that warned the UK must ‘raise its game’ on skills at all levels if it is to sustain and improve its position in the global economy. The Skills Pledge fulfils a key recommendation made in the review, at the heart of a new ‘deal’ where employers will be able to shape the skills system to meet their needs, in return for prioritising skills training at all levels.

Flybe Chairman and Chief Executive, Jim French said: “Flybe is proud to be one of the first UK companies to pledge its support to the world-class objectives recommended by Lord Leitch in his report of December 2006 now set down in The Skills’ Pledge programme.

“As the largest private employer in the South West of England and as the largest regional airline in Europe, Flybe fully understands the importance of attracting and retaining a skilled and qualified workforce. We are therefore committed to enabling all our employees achieve the skills necessary to attain and develop and achieve their professional ambitions.”