A new star-studded safety video and generous customer donations have helped BA hit a milestone fundraising target of £17 million. The money will be used to change the lives of thousands of children and young people around the world. But this is just some of the activity which Mary Barry manages as head of BA’s community investment programme. The Club caught up with her to find out more about this invaluable work

What does BA’s charitable work involve?
The airline supports scores of charities around the world, through Flying Start, our partnership with Comic Relief. We’ve been working with them since 2010 to support children in the UK and in the communities we fly to. The money is raised from on-board customer donations and BA employees participating in a whole range of fundraising activities, from sponsored runway runs to climbs up Kilimanjaro. We’re hugely proud to have raised in excess of £17 million since the partnership began. 

What have been the highlights of the relationship with Comic Relief?
Personally, it has been seeing first-hand the difference that this money makes to the lives of young people both overseas and in the UK. This year, the delivery of the safety video (watch below) has been a fantastic opportunity to remind people about the partnership and it has already resulted in a huge, almost twofold, increase, in on-board donations.

What sort of Comic Relief projects are supported?
In the UK, they range from working with young homeless people to children at risk and those affected by addiction. We also ring-fenced funds to go to Manchester after the attack and to support young survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. Overseas projects mirror what we do in the UK. It’s all about rehabilitation and positively engaging young people to get themselves to a better place.

Does BA support emergency appeals?
Whenever there’s a disaster, we suspend on board collections for Flying Start for a fortnight, and collect for the specific appeal instead. That money then goes to the Disasters Emergency Committee and their member agencies to allocate the funds as they see fit. After the Nepalese earthquake we raised more than £320,000 from customer donations on board – a record amount. We also give tickets and offer cargo space to agencies such as UNICEF.

What other overseas projects does BA support?
During Diwali, our ground crew in India and international cabin crew raised money for the Comic Relief funded Chintan organisation in Delhi which supports children from waste-picking communities. We raised more than £40,000, we have to thank both colleagues and customers for their enormous generosity.

Does BA proffer ad hoc requests for charity support?
Yes. For UK-registered charities we have the facility to give excess baggage. Customers should contact us on community.branch@ba.com to enquire.

Beyond Comic Relief, what does your work involve?
The other strand of our work focuses on young people and employability. In 2017, we welcomed more than 1,300 young people into BA on work experience. Some of these students are now part of a team of ambassadors who go back out to schools to do presentations about BA and the world of aviation.

How else does BA engage students?
Young people on our work experience programme also have the opportunity to participate in our gliding scholarship. IIt's a great stepping stone for students interested in a career in flying. Teams from various departments at BA also go into schools to inspire young people to consider a career in the aviation industry.

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This article has been tagged BA, Travel Tips