The Only Way is Essex star Bobby Cole Norris will be confronting his longstanding fear of flying at Stansted airport this weekend on easyJet’s Fearless Flyer course.
Bobby, who has starred in the ITV2 BAFTA award-winning show since series four, has suffered from a deep-routed flying phobia since he was a child, causing him to dread boarding an aeroplane and making every flight a potential misery. Millions have tuned in to see Bobby and his fellow cast members as they prepare for the show’s annual trip to Marbs. This year, Bobby will be adding easyJet’s Fearless Flyer ‘mind tools’ to his pre-trip procedures in order to conquer his fear.
Bobby explains:
""The beach outfits are planned, sunglass collection ready to be showcased and the tan applied but having to fly has always put a dark cloud over the whole holiday! Sitting at the airport gate I have always been the one looking nervously out on the runway biting my nails. For me it’s the noises. I sit there listening to every bang and whirling, thinking it’s a signal that we are doomed to drop out of the sky any minute!""
Bobby will be on easyJet’s Fearless Flyer course over the weekend at Stansted airport, which consists of a three-hour ground course presented by top phobia expert Lawrence Leyton, star of Channel 4’s Fear of Flying programme, and a senior easyJet Captain who will be on hand for the whole course to answer any questions and explain what every noise, bang and whirling is and give a complete insight of the mechanics of flying. Together they will teach him and the other participants on the course a unique set of techniques which will change their perception of flying forever. The following day, Bobby and participants will be taken on a dedicated hour-long flight to put their new skills to the test.
easyJet has successfully helped more than 1,000 phobics become Fearless Flyers since the course was launched in late 2012, ranging from extreme phobics who cannot even step foot on a plane, to those who experience mild nervousness.
Mark Wein who runs easyJet’s Fearless Flyer course said:
""We’re looking forward to welcoming Bobby on the course and are confident we’ll be able to help him overcome his fear.
""We have a phenomenal success rate with over 95% of participants becoming fearless flyers. We know from the many emails that we subsequently receive from our participants from around the world that it’s a life-changing experience for them. We believe that it will be the same for Bobby and that his trip to Marbella will be a fearless one.""
easyJet’s Fearless Flyer course runs across the country with a number of other sessions coming up in Luton, Edinburgh, Bristol, Gatwick, Belfast and Manchester. To book a place or for more information, please visit fearlessflyer.easyjet.com
About easyJet:
easyJet operates Europe's No. 1 air transport network with a leading presence on Europe's top 100 routes and at Europe's 50 largest airports.
easyJet carries more than 61 million passenger annually of which 11 million are travelling on business.
easyJet flies over 200 aircraft on more than 600 routes between over 130 airports in 30 countries. More than 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport, more than any other airline.
The airline takes sustainability seriously. easyJet invests in the latest technology, operates efficiently and fills most of its seats which means that an easyJet passenger's carbon footprint is 22% less than a passenger on a traditional airline, flying the same aircraft on the same route.
