• easyJet and easyJet holidays have become an official member of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower on International Day of Persons with Disabilities

  • The Sunflower symbol helps identify people with non-visible disabilities

  • The membership is part of the airline and holiday companies' continued commitment to make travel accessible for all

This International Day of Persons with Disabilities, easyJet and easyJet holidays are proud to become an official member of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower global network.

Becoming an official member is part of the airline and holiday companies' continued work to make travel accessible for all and ensure customers who may need additional assistance can travel with the confidence that their needs will be recognised.

The globally recognised Sunflower symbol, including the lanyard, pin badge, or ribbon, discreetly allows wearers to advise they have a non-visible disability.

By wearing the Sunflower, customers can signal that they may need additional support, time and understanding throughout their journey, enabling easyJet's Flight, Cabin, and Ground Crews to check what support may be needed.

Through the new membership, easyJet and easyJet holidays have been providing Hidden Disabilities Sunflower’s training to teams across its extensive network, spanning Europe and North Africa, on supporting customers with the Sunflower symbol and offering appropriate support to those with disabilities that are not visible. 

Wallis Harvey, easyJet’s Accessibility Specialist, said:

"We are proud to become an official member of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. This is one of the many steps we are taking to ensure we are making travel accessible for all, by helping our teams with greater awareness and understanding of non-visible disabilities, and the different ways our customer may need us to support them.”

Paul White, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower’s CEO, added:

"We are thrilled that easyJet has joined the global Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. easyJet crew across Europe now formally recognise Sunflower wearers after taking our training and greet them with added consideration and an offer of support to ensure their journey is positive. The Sunflower removes barriers and provides access for individuals with non-visible disabilities – turning flying into an enjoyable and repeated experience. It brings the world closer and opens opportunities for new experiences and adventure through travel."

easyJet has a range of assistance options available to support passengers with disabilities and easyJet’s crew are provided with continuous training on supporting customers who require additional assistance when they fly.

easyJet's Assisted Travel Advisory Board (EATAB), chaired by Lord David Blunkett, was established in 2012 and provides independent advice from industry experts to support easyJet's mission of making travel accessible for all, from the moment a passenger books to when they complete their journey, in partnership with airports and their assistance providers.

ENDS

For further information, please contact the easyJet Press Office via mediacentre.easyJet.com/contacts or on 01582 525252

About easyJet

easyJet is Europe’s leading airline offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe's primary airports with great value fares and friendly service.

easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline and carried more than 82 million passengers in 2023 with more than 11.3 million travelling for business. The airline has over 300 aircraft flying on nearly 1000 routes to more than 155 airports across 35 countries. Over 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport.

easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in eight countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports several local charities and has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised nearly £17m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

In 2022, easyJet published its roadmap to net zero by 2050. The roadmap, which also features a combination of fleet renewal, operational efficiencies, airspace modernisation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel and carbon removal technology, has set an ambitious interim carbon emissions intensity reduction target of 35% by 2035 which is validated by the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi). The airline’s ultimate aim is to fully transition its fleet to zero carbon emission technology, which it will achieve through a number of strategic partnerships including with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace Solutions. Since 2000, the airline has successfully reduced its carbon emissions per passenger, per kilometre by one-third.   

Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA – since launching nearly 30 years ago, easyJet changed the way people fly to the present day where the airline leads the industry in digital and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for its passengers.

In 2023 easyJet was named by TIME as one of the World’s Best Companies and a Leader in Diversity 2024 by The Financial Times.

About easyJet Holidays:  easyJet holidays, which launched in 2019, is one of the major players in the tour operator industry, having taken almost 2 million people away in 2023. Named Travel Brand of The Year in 2024, it offers great-value beach and city holidays to over 7000 hotels, in more than 100 destinations across Europe, directly through its website and through over 5000 travel agent partners. The ATOL-protected holidays can be secured with a deposit of just £60 per person, including flights and hotel, with 23kg luggage and transfers on beach holidays. easyJet holidays is a member of ABTA, and all packages are covered by its Ultimate Flexibility, offering freedom to change a booking, a refund guarantee, and best price guarantee. In 2024 the holiday provider also started operating from Switzerland, France and Germany.

Winners of the Sustainable Future Award at the Globe Travel Awards, easyJet holidays’ sustainability strategy,‘Holiday Better’, focuses on three key pillars – create better holiday choices which is about making sustainable travel affordable and accessible to everyone; keep our holidays special which is maximising the benefits and minimising the negative impacts of travel and tourism, and transform travel for everyone which means embedding sustainability into business decisions and behaviours and driving meaningful change in the industry. The tour operator has partnered with UN Tourism to help develop the first environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework for tourism businesses, co-designing a measurement tool that is meaningful and feasible for better monitoring how tourism businesses impact, and depend on, people, planet and prosperity.

easyJet holidays has been named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2023 and 2024, as well as being named one of the Best Workplaces in Travel 2023. 

About Hidden Disabilities Sunflower

Since the Sunflower was established in the UK in 2016, it has been adopted globally by organisations to support their colleagues and customers. The Sunflower is recognised across a broad range of sectors - ranging from retail, financial services, transport including over 285 airports and 18 airlines, travel and tourism, education as well as healthcare, emergency service and entertainment. With a strong global presence, the Sunflower is a private multinational company headquartered in the UK that has operations in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Latin America, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Mauritius, the UAE, the UK and the USA.

For further information, please visit: https://hdsunflower.com/