London Luton Airport wins AOA Best Safety Week Initiative Award

London Luton Airport (LLA) won the Best Safety Week Initiative category at the Airport Operators Association (AOA) Awards.
By Holly Patel
Published 3rd Dec 2019, 17:11 BST
Updated 4th Dec 2019, 12:30 BST
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The industry award celebrates the airport which introduced the best initiative during the association’s Airport Safety Week 2019. LLA’s initiative featured the use of a ‘Safety Bus’.

The bus is now a permanent fixture at the airport, and tours the aerodrome every fortnight, allowing all staff to learn about important safety procedures.

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The award also recognised the creation of the Safety Stack following Airport Safety Week in 2017, which is a collective of 15 organisations based at the airport who collaborate on safety issues.

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L to R: Simon Calder - Travel Editor, The Independent, Joanne Johnstone - Head of Health & Safety, LLA, Neil Thompson - Operations Director, LLA, Liam Bolger Head of Airside, LLA, Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith Chair, AOAL to R: Simon Calder - Travel Editor, The Independent, Joanne Johnstone - Head of Health & Safety, LLA, Neil Thompson - Operations Director, LLA, Liam Bolger Head of Airside, LLA, Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith Chair, AOA
L to R: Simon Calder - Travel Editor, The Independent, Joanne Johnstone - Head of Health & Safety, LLA, Neil Thompson - Operations Director, LLA, Liam Bolger Head of Airside, LLA, Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith Chair, AOA

This collaboration culminated in LLA becoming the first in the world to standardise ground handling procedures in line with IATA’s Ground Operations Manual and developing procedures to ensure best practice across all operators.

London Luton Airport is celebrating a successful year, the airport was shortlisted for the UK/Irish Airport of the Year Award at the Travel Trade Gazette Awards and awarded a Readers’ Choice Award from Conde Nast, ranking it amongst the top five airports in the UK.

LLA’s community work has also been recognised this year, with the airport being awarded the Internal Engagement Award at the Macmillan Cancer Support Corporate Thank You Awards.

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Macmillan’s head of corporate partnerships was particularly complimentary about the fundraising efforts and engagement with the charity from all employees at the airport, which has so far raised more than £125,000.

Commenting on the awards, CEO Alberto Martin said: “These awards are a fantastic demonstration of all the exemplary work by everyone across the airport throughout the year, and I’d like to thank them for their hard work.

"This is exactly the tone we want to set as we look to 2020, and I am confident that the airport’s successes will continue into the New Year.”

Finally, individuals at the airport have been singled out for praise. This includes Michael Nagle, utilities manager for the airport who was awarded the Energy Champion of the Year award at the Energy Awards for his work in making the airport more energy efficient. This work was also Highly Commended by judges at the AOA Awards.

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LLA’s General Counsel Swati Paul was named in The Lawyer magazine’s ‘Hot 100’ of UK legal professionals, while Dani Gargett, LLA’s Content and Communications Executive was named Best In-House Marketer and was Highly Commended in the Content Creator of the Year category in the 2019 Social Media Marketing Awards.