The UK's regional Airline, Loganair has shown off its latest livery, an Embraer 145 with a special Pride livery to show its support for the LGBT+ community.
Wrapped in the classic Pride colours, the jet will fly across Loganair’s route network visibly underscoring the airline’s commitment to creating an inclusive, safe and secure working environment for all its employees.
The 49-seat Embraer Regional Jet was kept under wraps in Loganair’s Glasgow hangar before its first flight in the new colours – sporting the airline’s iconic Tartan Tail alongside the rainbow flag.
Loganair says it is committed to creating a safe and secure working environment in which all staff, including those from minority backgrounds, can thrive and excel. In a recent company-wide survey in which over three-quarters of Loganair employees took part, a record 82% of respondents said that people from all backgrounds can succeed at Loganair.
The airline will also be sponsoring this year’s Northern Pride in Newcastle (22-23 July), where this year Loganair has based a second aircraft and expects to carry a record number of customers across its network of routes within the UK and to Norway from its home base in the North East.
Loganair Chief Executive Jonathan Hinkles said: “We’re firmly pinning our colours to the mast – or the fuselage in this case – as an airline that is not only open to all but as one that is a vocal advocate for equality.Since we launched Flying’s for All, we’ve been blown away by the enthusiasm of our team to find ways to show support to each other. We’ve established that our teams already viewed Loganair as an inclusive place to work – and there’s a keen understanding of the need to imbed that in our services every day and at every level.’’
Loganair is Northern Pride’s official airline partner and is supporting their health and wellbeing zones with volunteer staff, which have become one of the festival’s main attractions. Thanks to Loganair’s sponsorship, these health and wellbeing zones will be spread across both days of the festival for the first time this year.
The airline has made a significant investment in its Flying’s for All Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training course, which will reach every single member of staff, regardless of their role, over the coming year.
Its launch follows the introduction of the airline’s Flying’s For All initiative. Established last year, Flying’s For All has three main objectives:
to recognise and support LGBTQIA+ members of the Loganair community – whether employees, customers or those working closely with us through our suppliers;to encourage wider opportunities for female members of the team throughout the airline;and to support employees’ mental health through a broad range of initiatives.
However, the new aircraft livery was not uniformly welcomed, Calum Stewart of Amicus Ltd responded to the social media post revealing the aircraft with "Next button I press will be to unfollow you. I'll take my support and custom elsewhere."
