Article
Jet2.com team host young aviation fan at Bournemouth Airport
Published: Wed 10 Sep 2025 at 14:50
The Jet2.com team at Bournemouth Airport helped a local youngster realise some of his aviation dreams yesterday, when they hosted Bodhi for a behind-the-scenes VIP tour at the airport.
Bodhi, who is aged eight and is autistic, and attends a local school for children with special educational needs (SEN), daily attends airports to watch, photograph and video the arriving and departing aircraft alongside his father Carl, and his assistance dog ‘Frank the Tank’, who has been trained by Vonkebles Dog Training to ensure he is comfortable and happy in any environment Bodhi goes.
Having noticed Bodhi’s passion for aviation on his father’s social media page Waveslider Photography, Jet2.com Senior First Officer Nadine Naidoo wanted to create some extra special memories for Bodhi and arranged the special visit which took place yesterday (Tuesday 9th September) and had a focus on SEN.
The visit was designed with personal development and life skills in mind, with Bodhi able to experience a first-hand perspective of Jet2.com’s operations including check-in, ground operations and engineering. The highlight was a VIP tour of a Jet2.com Boeing 737-800 aircraft during which time Bodhi got to look around and learn about the aircraft, concluding with a visit to the cockpit.
Jet2.com Senior First Officer Nadine Naidoo said: “Like many people across the region, we love watching how Carl documents Bodhi’s love of aviation, as well as its importance to him. In supporting that passion through this visit, our team had a fantastic time hosting Bodhi, Carl and Frank the Tank and we hope that we have created memories for life. Bodhi’s enthusiasm and knowledge was truly inspiring and we look forward to following his aviation journey.”
Carl Draper, Bodhi’s father said: “Bodhi has been incredibly excited about meeting Nadine and going onboard his favourite Jet2 aircraft! We have been to Bournemouth Airport watching the planes every single day (except 2) for the last 18 months, and yesterday the big day came when we went to Bournemouth airport to meet Nadine and the Jet2 team, along with Craig from Vonkebles Dog Training. Bodhi and Frank had the most incredible experience and loved every single minute. Nadine and the whole Jet2 team were genuinely amazing with both Bodhi and Frank, they were very patient, professional, learned how to meet Bodhi’s needs very quickly and they all became best friends with Bodhi & Frank. As a parent of an Autistic child, it was a dream to see how incredible and welcoming the team at Jet2 are, and we now look forward to flying very soon with them! Every parent of a SEN child with an assistance dog should know just how incredible and sincerely genuine the Jet2 team are and know they are in the very best of hands, we’d like to say a huge thank you to them all!”
