MAG Connect scheme supports job seekers at Airport

Manchester Airports Group – MAG –  has launched a new programme, MAG Connect, to support people looking for jobs at their local airport. 

MAG Connect is designed to give people the best chance of getting a job at a MAG airport by helping them with careers advice and travel costs as the Airport group plans a new recruitment drive in preparation for growth and investment.

MAG Connect, which is being announced as part of the MAG’s 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility report, will take MAG’s recruitment drive out of its airports and into nearby areas where it will have the greatest impact.

MAG Connect – a scheme to help job seekers find work at their local airport

The first MAG Connect initiative started this week as London Stansted Airport held a jobs fair in Tottenham, an area of London which is only 35 minutes from the airport by train, with fares subsidised by 80% for airport employees, but which has relatively high unemployment. The jobs fair kicks off a new partnership between London Stansted Airport and Tottenham Job Centre Plus, which is designed to prepare the airport for further growth.

The MAG Connect scheme will benefit the communities around MAG airports while also improving MAG and other on-site airport employers’ ability to make local hires, particularly in communities where jobs are most needed but may be under-represented at airports because of factors including cultural differences, lack of awareness, or under-developed transport links.

MAG will continue to develop MAG Connect in key target areas around its airports at Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth. Other more long term elements of the MAG Connect scheme will include a new Technical Skills College at London Stansted Airport, a partnership with Harlow College.

The new initiative will support MAG’s plans for significant growth at its airports in the coming 10 to 15 years. At Manchester Airport, MAG is investing £1bn in new terminal and airfield facilities over the coming decade, and at London Stansted a new £130m arrivals building is planned.

The announcement comes as new figures demonstrate the ever-growing economic importance of airports to their national and regional economies. MAG’s four UK airports generated economic activity worth £7.1bn in the last year, a 15% increase year on year. In the last year alone, 5,000 jobs were created on airport and in the supply chain as a result of this growth, in industries like construction, tourism and transport, and in industries that rely on connections to global import and export markets.

Minister for Employment, Damian Hinds, said:

“With record levels of employment, businesses should be looking for new ways to fill vacancies. Today’s announcement will not only help more local people find work, it’s also an excellent example of a company working innovatively with Jobcentre Plus to benefit the local Tottenham area.”

Charlie Cornish, MAG CEO, said:

“Our airports are critical contributors to the ongoing economic health of the country, providing a gateway for welcome foreign investment and ensuring that the UK is able to meet the growing demand from international leisure and business travellers. Increasingly, our airports are also providing hubs for a vibrant global air cargo industry, spurred on by the huge growth in e-commerce.

“We also know that delivering growth in the right way is key to securing the support of our stakeholders, and as our airports continue to grow over the coming years, we recognise the importance to local communities of being able to deliver this growth while managing the environmental impacts associated with our operations.”

Read more about MAG’s CSR Report