Dear Attitude readers,
Iam thrilled that Virgin Atlantic is here once again, partnering with Attitude magazine for their fantastic awards event. As we celebrate 50 years of Pride in the UK, I’d like to rstly honour our founder, Sir Richard Branson, and his work with the community. Not many people know that back in the 60s, when he was just 16, Richard set up a Student Advisory Centre which helped young people get the professional help they needed. He quickly found that a lot of gay people were coming to the centre, and it was important to Richard that they were able to accept and embrace themselves and, in turn, for others to accept and embrace them, too. He has been speaking up for LGBTQ+ rights ever since. At Virgin Atlantic we are completely committed to continuing his work, using the power of our business, our brand and our people to drive change. Earlier this year, we launched our new TV advert and brand campaign, set to the iconic track ‘I Am What I Am’, which champions the individuality of our people and our customers. No matter how many times I watch it, it still moves me.
It’s important for us to encourage every single one of our people to be themselves at work. We recently updated our gender identity policy to ensure our non-binary and trans colleagues can express their true selves. We now no longer have a male and a female uniform, but co-workers can choose the uniform that best represents their identity.
We also continue to push for change for our customers — we want every person who travels with us to feel they can be themselves on board and in the destinations we y to. We recently worked with Open for Business to show the economic impact that anti-LGBTQ+ laws have on countries around the world and how they restrict tourism and limit growth. The study showed that the Caribbean region was missing out on a staggering $689 million of potential tourism revenue. Antigua has now changed its laws and Barbados isn’t far behind. Although these decisions shouldn’t be based on commercial reasons, we are pleased progress is being made.
We also recently overhauled our ticketing systems to allow those who identify as non-binary to travel with their preferred pronoun and this work will continue across our customer journey. US travellers are already able to enjoy an inclusive travel experience, however, the UK government still only allows traditional pronouns on UK passports. This needs to change and Virgin Atlantic will be leading the campaign with our partners, our customers, our people and, of course, all the readers of Attitude. Watch this space.
We look forward to seeing you on board soon.