London City Airport Prime Visit

Rupal Patel, London City Airport Community Relations Executive, made a prime visit on Friday 19 March 2010 to Downing Street.

Invited by Lorraine Tighe of BBC show The Apprentice, Rupal joined an exclusive group celebrating the partnerships forged through engagement with Young Enterprise London of business and schools to develop the next generation of entrepreneurs. 

A strong supporter of business engagement in schools, London City Airport delivers education programmes focused on basic skills, raising aspirations and the transition from education to employment in scores of schools in East London. 

During 2009, the airport’s community team spent more than 100 days delivering education projects including airport tours, languages workshops, business challenges and university lectures. 

All of the airport’s education resource is focused in the East London Boroughs, including partnerships with schools such as Rokeby in Newham, Woolwich Polytechnic in Greenwich, Old Palace in Tower Hamlets, King Soloman in Redbridge and many others ranging from primary through to adult education.  The London City Airport Community Relations Manager also sits on the board of the Newham Education Business Partnership and Advisory Group to the Greenwich Education Business Partnership. 

London City Airport is committed to employing local people and has delivered education programmes in East London schools for more than 15 years to ensure that local young people have access to the skills and knowledge required to gain a career with one of the 61 employers based on-site.  1 in 3 people working on-site at London City Airport live in the London Borough of Newham and more than 2/3 live in boroughs within 5 miles.