Pictured: The winning group from Bow School. The programme has now seen over 1,500 young women participate over five years.

A group of east London students have won London City Airport’s fifth Women in Aviation programme after taking part in a sustainability challenge, in which the students from Bow School, Tower Hamlets, demonstrated innovative ideas on how to make the passenger journey sustainable from home to destination, including using new technology and AI for waste management processes, and integrating renewable energy into the transport and infrastructure network.

The award, which was presented at the finale event held on Wednesday, 21st May at the Sunborn London Yacht Hotel in Royal Victoria Dock, is part of the airport’s ‘Women in Aviation Programme’ – a three-month education programme where up to 300 young women from 10 schools across east London participated.

A panel of judges comprised of industry experts awarded the winning group with vouchers and a special airside tour of the airport.

The students were joined by role models from across the industry who gave careers talks, including London City Airport’s CEO, Alison FitzGerald; Lizzie Beale, Senior Policy Advisor in Aviation Decarbonisation for the Department for Transport (DfT); Embraer’s VP Sales and Marketing for Europe and Central Asia, Marie-Louise Phillipe; and British Airways CityFlyer’s Analytics and Insights Manager, Claire O’Toole.

A number of local councillors also attended the event, including Newham’s Vice Chair for Local Development Committee and Barking & Dagenham’s Cabinet Member for Community Leadership & Engagement.

Alison FitzGerald, CEO of London City Airport, said: “I’d like to congratulate all the young women who took part in this year’s programme, which was one of the most energetic and engaging events to date. It was inspiring to see the creativity and enthusiasm of these young women as they tackled some of our sector’s most pressing sustainability challenges. The aim of the programme is to showcase how Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects can provide solutions to the challenges facing the aviation industry and encourage more local young women to be inspired into careers in the sector.

London City Airport (LCY) is one of the London Borough of Newham’s largest single-site employers.

Over two thirds of the airport’s workforce live within five miles of the airport from its location in the heart of London’s Royal Docks.

LCY also noted The Palmer Catholic Academy in Redbridge also showcased some excellent ideas and came runners up, placing them second among more than ten competing schools.

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