Baroness Vere of Norbiton appointed UK Aviation Minister

Baroness Vere

The new Aviation Minister will oversee government matters on aviation, international security, legislation in the Lords, EU and EU Exit.

Aviation and aerospace companies including TUI, Flybe and Thomas Cook have all agreed to sign the Women in aviation and aerospace charter, which commits companies to create a more gender-balanced workforce and a fairer industry for women.

Supporting organisations also agree to set targets around creating a more gender-balanced workforce, and to assign a board member to implement those targets. easyJet – one of the first companies to sign – has set a target to ensure 20 per cent of its new pilot entrants are female by 2020.

Other signatories of the charter include Leonardo, Manchester Airport Group, London City Air Group, Babcock, Airbus, Gatwick Airport, NATS and Rolls-Royce.

Aviation Minister, Baroness Vere, said: “I am delighted to be joining the department at such an exciting time. Aviation and aerospace are great industries to work in and the support of these 100 companies is an important step towards greater gender diversity. I hope that more companies will sign the charter and I will be challenging the sector as a whole to do more. If any business is to have the highest quality workforce, diversity must play an important part. I am delighted that many companies have recognised this and are doing something about it. I look forward to working with them.”

Katherine Bennett, CBE, co-Chair of the ‘Women in aviation and aerospace charter’ and Senior Vice President at Airbus, said: “The ‘Women in aviation and aerospace charter’ has made great progress since it was launched last July. Seeing so much commitment from the aviation and aerospace industries to work towards gender equality is promising for our future. Today as we celebrate the charter’s 100th signatory, we have taken a huge step towards making greater gender diversity in our industries a reality. I hope this is just the start of many great things in our journey towards gender equality in aviation and aerospace.”