7th June 2022
Team growth continues as aviation industry calls for more trained air cabin crew
Lynn Stephens, Head of Curriculum, Tourism and Hospitality Industries, South Devon College
We are delighted to welcome Hayley Chami to the Tourism team at South Devon College. Hayley’s long and varied career in aviation began when she joined Britannia Airways in the 1990s as air cabin crew staff, based at Birmingham International airport on short and long haul routes.
Hayley was then promoted to Cabin Crew Performance Manager based at Stansted Airport. The role involved performance training, coaching and development of Crew linked to driving excellent performance within the teams. Later Hayley progressed to a management role as Base Support Manager for TUI at Exeter Airport, responsible for the performance management of a team of Crew & Cabin Managers, as well as ensuring compliance with a range of company quality systems, including: finance and processing of flight reports.
Hayley has also been an active volunteer member of the Prime Minister’s Dementia Challenge Group for Air Transport since 2015, having been involved in an advisory capacity linked to implementation of recent changes to airport accessibility facilities to benefit those living with dementia or other hidden disabilities.
Hayley is passionate about her subject area of aviation and in addition to her teaching, she is currently employed in an operational role at Exeter airport with the ground services team for passenger services. She explains “I believe students should have frequent contact with Industry professionals and I am passionate about providing them with industry experience such as airport visits to help them understand operational procedures and the job pathways available to them.” Hayley’s contacts provide students with regular industry talks and the opportunity to interact in role play simulation such as flight check in. This autumn our students will be involved and participate in Exeter airports triennial mock emergency exercise, enabling them to experience how blue light services work together to respond to a major airport incident.
Lynn Stephens, Head of Tourism and Hospitality Industries explained “The College will be delivering the Cabin Crew courses from September as a direct result of industry asking for people to be trained in this area. There is a huge shortage of quality staffing in aviation right now, so anyone doing this training can look forward to a rewarding and exciting job in the industry very quickly.”
More information on the Cabin Crew course or Tourism related courses can be found here.