Background

The airport employs 98 people and plays an important role in supporting regional growth through safe, efficient and accessible air travel. Alongside its operational responsibilities, the airport is committed to being a responsible business that contributes positively to the communities it serves.

Community impact is embedded within the airport’s wider Sustainability Strategy through dedicated focus on people, community and the environment. Led by its Executive Team and supported by an employee-led community responsibility forum, Belfast City Airport invests time, funding, expertise and volunteering into programmes that address social issues including educational inequality, youth unemployment, accessibility, social inclusion, poverty, mental health and environmental stewardship.

What Belfast City Airport did

In line with its ambition to be a good neighbour and create meaningful social value, Belfast City Airport developed a comprehensive portfolio of community programmes designed to tackle local challenges and improve opportunities for people across Greater Belfast and Ards and North Down.

At the centre of this work is the Airport Community Fund, which supports grassroots organisations delivering projects in education, inclusion, wellbeing, poverty alleviation and environmental improvement. The fund has helped hundreds of local initiatives and provides targeted support to communities experiencing social and economic disadvantage.

The airport also invests in the future potential of young people through its IGNITE Youth Leadership Programme, which equips 16 to 18-year-olds with personal development, leadership and employability skills, and through its High Flyers Apprenticeship Programme, which creates career pathways into aviation and encourages participation from underrepresented groups, particularly women.

Recognising the importance of accessibility and inclusion, Belfast City Airport partnered with Queen’s University Belfast and aviation partners to deliver Autism in the Air, an innovative programme that helps children and young people with autism experience and prepare for air travel in a supportive environment.

In addition, the airport supports local schools through long-term education partnerships, delivers volunteering and career engagement activities, and raises significant funds for charitable organisations through employee-led fundraising initiatives. Through extensive stakeholder engagement, collaboration with community groups and sustained investment, Belfast City Airport has demonstrated a commitment to creating lasting social impact that extends well beyond its core business operations.

Key Impacts and Results

• £752,000+ invested in 248 community projects, with the airport on track to deliver £1 million of community funding by 2028.
• 32 grassroots projects supported in 2025 alone, including initiatives tackling homelessness, poverty, educational disadvantage and social isolation.
• 150 young people completed the IGNITE Youth Leadership Programme, exceeding programme targets and benefiting from over £400,000 of investment and 500 staff volunteer hours.
• 100% of High Flyers apprentices progressed into full-time employment, while female representation within the airport fire service increased from 2.8% to 8.5% in two years.
• Autism in the Air continues to be oversubscribed, helping children and families build confidence around flying, reducing travel anxiety and improving accessibility within aviation.
• £187,000 raised for charity partnerships since 2021, including £140,000 for Action for Children Northern Ireland during a two-year partnership.
• Environmental projects delivered measurable community benefits, including support for biodiversity initiatives, planting 1,750 native tree seeds, and directly benefiting 265 pupils and seven local school grounds in 2025.

What the judges said:

“We are really impressed by the breadth of Belfast City Airport’s impact, with meaningful and wide ranging community grants, impressive charity partnership fundraising, and most notably the continued development of Autism in the Air.

“Throughout these, there was a clear commitment demonstrated by every level of their staff team willing to give up their own time to volunteer at Autism in the Air. The judges also noted that BCA wanted to share this learning across the UK and into Europe as the first programme of it’s kind in the industry.”