HeliHub.com has withdrawn an article we ran yesterday regarding the way in which Bristow Helicopters chose to word an invitation for applications to a scholarship program they are running, which has an application deadline of 31 January 2013. We understood that the UK’s Equalities Act in 2010, which aims to remove discrimination on a wide range of measures including age, sex, race, disability, etc, was relevant for all recruitment advertising, including this one. We have been persuaded that Bristow has not  ia fact breached UK employment law and Helihub.com apologises unreservedly for our earlier article, which was withdrawn as soon as we were contacted by their PR agency.

The  advert forms part of a promotion by The Air League.  You can see the original here and the section relevant to aspiring helicopter pilots is reproduced here

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We are very happy that Bristow is taking the move to make scholarships available, particularly at a time when all UK commercial airlines have withdrawn such offers.

Bristow have asked us to reprint the following statement “Bristow was and is within the letter of the law when they advertised for pilots between the ages of 18 and 26. The company has identified a lack of young people joining the industry and as such has proactively reached out via the Air League Trust NPPL (A) Scholarship in order to fund places for young people to join the aviation industry.  Aviation tuition can be costly and as such a barrier to uptake. There is therefore a justifiable need for young people to enter the aviation industry and Bristow is actively working to encourage this.  Mike Imlach, Director of European Operations for Bristow Helicopters Limited, states:“There is an on-going need for highly skilled pilots to operate helicopters in challenging conditions associated with the offshore environment. As an operator we have identified a shortage of uptake from the younger generation and for this reason are proactively seeking to encourage young people into the industry in order to ensure its long term future.  We hope that our partnership with the Air League Trust will allow Bristow to train pilots, who upon graduation from this scholarship, will be recognised as having obtained one of the best flight training qualifications in the civilian world and that they will be a powerful asset to the oil & gas industry.”

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com