Our Community
The responsibility of serving our region and local communities sustainably is a long-term commitment at the heart of our planning. We have a commitment to protecting the environment, investing in our community and consulting on our future plans. We hold our regular community engagement events in villages and towns in and around the airport. We also issue a quarterly newsletter to keep our community updated on the latest happenings at LBA. Click here to sign up.
Volunteering
Our charity partner until the end of 2025 is AVSED, a local charity dedicated to preventing social isolation and loneliness among Aireborough seniors. We kicked off our partnership with a £5,000 cheque presentation by our CEO, Vincent Hodder, alongside the AVSED team and Trustees.
Throughout the year, our staff will raise funds, matched by LBA, and volunteer at AVSED events with their volunteer leave. We’re excited to see what the future brings with this partnership and the positive impact we can make together.
Airport Consultative Committee
A formal link to our neighbouring communities is hosted at the Leeds Bradford Airport Consultative Committee Meeting (ACC) held quarterly.
What are Airport Consultative Committees?
Airport Consultative Committees are an effective way in which airports can engage openly and constructively with the local community. Leeds Bradford Airport’s Consultative Committee provides a structured forum, which is attended by airport management as well as key stakeholders in the local community, including representatives from neighbouring local authorities, parish councils, community associations, local residents and businesses. The meetings provide an exchange of information in relation to airport matters, for example, airport operational updates, airport development, business progress reports, surface access and environmental matters, including noise. The ACC meeting is held at LBA on a quarterly basis.
Members of the public are able to attend the meeting as an observer at the discretion of the Chairman if there is a clear and obvious reason to do so, such as the need to raise a relevant question or query that cannot be done so via other existing ACC members.
The Role of ACCs
Any questions or requests to attend a meeting of the ACC should be sent to the Chairman of the ACC at the following address:
Consultative Committee, Mr. Alan Wrigley (Chairman), c/o Business Administration Team, Leeds Bradford Airport, Leeds, LS19 7TU
Or e-mail the Committee Secretary: acc@lba.co.uk
The minutes of previous meetings are available below:
The ACC Terms of Reference can be viewed here
Consulting with Disability Groups
In this guide we will explain how we engage with a variety of disability groups to help Leeds Bradford Airport meet our commitment to improving passenger experience for all.
If you are a member of a disability group based in Yorkshire who may feel that we could assist you or your group, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email: customercare@lba.co.uk
William Merritt Disabled Living Centre
The William Merritt Centre based in Rodley, Leeds is a registered charity that provides professional and impartial advice to the public on available disability equipment. This includes assessments from occupational therapists for adults and children and also assessments for supporting travel.
We have recently attended consultations and events with the William Merritt Centre exploring the following:
- Meeting with staff to learn about the services the William Merritt Centre team deliver.
- A Question & Answer session between key operational staff was delivered in order to enhance awareness.
- The William Merritt Centre occupational team has visited the airport for a familiarisation session, airport tour and to shadow the PRM provider.
- Our Special Assistance team has delivered demonstrations of the pro-move sling and promoted the Special Assistance service and Lanyard scheme to families attending William Merritt Centre open days.
- We attend the William Merritt Centre annual accessibility exhibition to meet various members of the community, see new technology available to aid assisted living, view and assess new mobility aids and speak with local charities and organisations about air travel.
Our Accessibility Group Forum
Our airport PRM Management Team host the Accessibility Group Forum to consult with disability groups and airport customers. Discussing key areas of our process like hidden disabilities, service improvements, promoting independent travel and means of pre departure information with user groups and passengers with experience of using our services helps to inform our future work. Our forum group meets Bi-Annually. Click here to see the minutes from our previous meetings.
Tryb4uFly
Based at the William Merritt Centre, is QEF Tryb4uFly, a service which provides cabin assessments, information on travelling by air and guidance on equipment hire of support seating for both children and adults. They even host a replica cabin fuselage at the centre and an assessment allows people to experience the cabin environment.
This service is aligned to those who have booked a flight or considering travelling in the future from Leeds Bradford Airport with seats closely matching those used by Jet2 and British Airways. It also includes an Aisle Transfer Chair as used in the airport.
Autism Awareness
Airports can be a busy place to travel through and for those passengers with autism we understand that this experience can be especially stressful. With the assistance of Leeds Autism Services, we have produced a guide to assist you on your day of travel.
The journey covers various stages that you will go through including tips on what to pack within your hand luggage, your journey to the airport, check in, security and boarding the aircraft.
Read or print the guide below. If you do not have access to a printer, please contact us and we will post a copy to you.
Aspire - Community Benefit Society
Aspire provides care and support services to people with learning difficulties. Based in Leeds, the society supports adults with a wide range of additional needs including physical disabilities, complex needs, sensory impairments and autistic spectrum disorders.
We have helped Aspire to offer multiple group visits to the airport with full terminal tours offering an insight on all of our facilities including check in, security, special assistance and our ambulift. This helped to highlight how we can make our passenger journey more comfortable within each process. Visitors after tour conclusions and those who go on to fly from our airport are also willing to offer their well-received feedback.
Little Hiccups
Little Hiccups is a Leeds based support group that was set up by parents of children with additional needs to host social sessions and days.
We have met with Little Hiccups to provide guided tours of the terminal and facilities to help support future travel arrangements from the airport. The aim was to offer reassurance to families on what to expect, particularly in terms of arriving at the car park, special assistance, security and the assistance available to and from the aircraft.
Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
Guide Dogs for the Blind Association provides a service locally for blind and partially-sighted children, young people and adults. To help support the training of guide dogs, Leeds Bradford Airport has been able to host:
- Group puppy walking familiarisation visits
- Full familiarisation sessions for both guide dogs and guide dogs in training, in order to experience the full passenger journey - including aircraft familiarisation
Expertise gained from the Guide Dogs Engagement Team allows us to make adjustments to our passenger journey to assist guide dogs and guide our future terminal developments and signage.
Royal Mencap
Mencap is a leading charity supporting people with a learning disability, and their families and carers. We have attended regional events raising awareness of how to support people with learning disabilities and hosted familiarisation visits from the Mencap Supported Internship group.
The supported internship group are young persons who are learning the skills associated to gaining employment and looking at different job roles that may be available. When guiding the group around the airport we are able to highlight not just the services and facilities at the airport, but also the job roles that may be available.
Leeds Mind
Leeds Mind promotes positive mental health and wellbeing, and provides help and support to people with mental health difficulties in the region. The independent charity is able to offer services like counselling, therapy and social support.
We are working with Leeds Mind to help create awareness for our hidden disability lanyard scheme, offer mental health first aid training to our teams and hosting a Stress Awareness Day.
Team members of various departments within LBA recently took part in a Mental Health Awareness Training day. This interactive session created awareness of understanding mental health through challenging perceptions and stigma, compared different models of mental health, how to recognise signs and symptoms of a range of mental health diagnoses and helped attendees to gain an awareness of mental health therapies, treatments and coping strategies.
JDRF Type 1 Diabetes Research Charity
Consulting with JDRF's regional team we have been able to deliver awareness sessions to key operational managers of the special assistance and security teams to help identify Type 1 Diabetes related incidents. The consultation has also guided website information improvements and training tools for wider operational teams.
Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
At Leeds Bradford Airport, we are committed to promoting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive.
We believe that an inclusive culture is essential to our success - where colleagues from all backgrounds feel welcome, supported, and able to bring their best selves to work. Our commitment goes beyond words; we are actively working to build a fairer and more diverse workplace that reflects the communities we serve.
To strengthen our approach, we have partnered with leading global Diversity & Inclusion experts to ensure that inclusion remains at the heart of everything we do. Research shows that diverse and inclusive workplaces drive innovation, engagement, and high-performing teams - and we are dedicated to embedding these values across LBA.
We know that real change comes from within. That’s why we’re encouraging our colleagues from all departments to play an active role in shaping an inclusive culture at LBA. Through our Champions Network initiative, employees can help instil meaningful change and ensure inclusivity is embedded in every aspect of our workplace.
Diversity and inclusion are not just initiatives - they are essential to who we are. Together, we are building a stronger, more inclusive LBA.