Staff and students arriving at West Herts College for the start of the January term this week may well have thought they had overdone the festivities over the Christmas break, as they came face to face with a plane parked in the grounds of Cassio campus.

West Herts College secured funding from Hertfordshire Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in order to purchase the fuselage of the out of service BAC1-11, which will be used by students studying Travel and Tourism at the College.

The LSC put forward the £100,000 needed to fund the plane to enable the College to specialise in courses for 14 to 19 year olds choosing to study for a career in the travel and tourism industry.

Liam Sammon, Executive Director of Hertfordshire LSC, said: "The LSC is always keen to support innovative ways of delivering education and training, and this is by far one of the most innovative ways I've come across.

"The plane will allow young people and adults to develop their travel and tourism skills in an environment which is as close as you could hope to get to the real thing without having to take off. I encourage anyone considering a career in travel and tourism to look into the courses on offer at West Herts College and for employers to link up with the college so that their staff can also benefit from this new and exciting facility."

The 60ft plane completed its journey from Bournemouth last weekend, making its way through the January sales traffic and turning heads as it travelled around the M25 and through Watford to its final destination at the College's Cassio campus in Langley Road.

The head of the School of Sport, Travel and Public Services, Roger Parker, said. "The plane fuselage is an exciting purchase for the Travel and Tourism department at West Herts College.

"We can't wait to start using it for teaching purposes and it will enable us to deliver a whole raft of new skills to our students in a learning environment which is as close as they will get to the real thing before they start work. In the future, we're hoping to grow our facilities in this area even further, with a space dedicated to a departures lounge and baggage carousel also planned."

It is hoped that the plane fuselage will also benefit the local community, as the College is in talks with several local businesses who are looking to use the fuselage for their own training needs. An official launch party for the plane will be held later in the year, to be attended by local industry figures and VIPs.