Local community groups benefit from East Midlands Airport funding

More than 80 groups and charities in communities surrounding East Midlands Airport (EMA) have benefited from a share of £228,000 in funding from the airport over the last six months.

One group, the Derby West Indian Community Association Steel Band (pictured), came to the airport at the weekend to help put customers in the holiday mood, after they received £2,000 towards new steel pans. The performance was part of EMA’s celebrations for Black History Month. A video of the performance is available here: https://content.presspage.com/uploads/1948/49b4a2e1-93f7-4b75-acba-eb0aa3dafebf/1728733468535-original-d69e3256-b09a-47a9-ba37-4c5bcf75ddc6.mp4?10000y

The EMA Community Fund is dedicated to bringing lasting benefit to those areas most affected by the airport’s operations. Eligible organisations within the  Area of Benefit – which stretches to the outer edges of Derby, Nottingham and Leicester to the north, east and south and includes Burton on Trent to the west - can apply for funding.

Part of the £228,000 donated to 81 organisations since April was from the Eco Garden and Low Carbon Energy Funds which are now closed. Over the past three years, this handed out just over £1m for local environmental projects using surcharges levied against noisy aircraft.

£60,000 of these funds is ringfenced to help mark EMA’s 60^th anniversary next year, going towards upgrading the Airport Trail - a 6.3-mile walking route around the perimeter of the airport which passes the EMA Aeropark aviation museum and aircraft viewing areas.

Projects that have benefited from EMA Community Fund donations this year include:

·       Bennerley Fields School, Ilkeston, was awarded a grant of £2,000 towards their fully accessible school minibus

·       Newhall Football Club, Swadlincote, received £1,966 towards sports equipment including pitch maintenance equipment, training goals, posts, respect barriers, a pop-up shelter and funding for kits

·       Orchard Primary School, Castle Donington, was awarded £2,000 towards a trim trail in the school playground, installed over the summer holidays. It is available for pupils as well as clubs including Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Cubs and Scout Groups, and holiday clubs

·       4^th Coalville Scout Group received a grant of £2,000 towards the purchase of a new trailer, to transport camping and activity equipment to camps and events.

Projects that have benefited from the EMA Low Carbon Energy Grant and Eco Garden Grant this year include:

·       Gotham Sports Arena and Kegworth Tennis Club were each awarded £10,000 towards new LED floodlights

·       Nottingham Casuals Rugby Football Club recently won £10,000 towards the purchase of solar panels

·       St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy in Alvaston, Derby recently completed the development of their Eco Garden with £9,285 of funding.

EMA’s Community Engagement Manager, Colleen Hempson, said: “We take our responsibilities very seriously as a large employment site which, given our business, has an impact on surrounding communities.

“As well as engaging with our communities all year round, we’re really pleased to be able to give something back through our Community Fund, which can make a big difference to community groups and benefit thousands of people in our area every year.”

You can find out more about the East Midlands Airport Community Fund here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured above (l-r) Bennerley Field School Accessible Minibus; Kegworth Tennis Club; Orchard Primary School; St John Fisher CVA School; Nottingham Casuals Rugby Football Club; Gotham Sports Arena LEDs; 4^th Coalville Scouts; Newhall Football Club

Manchester Airports Group hosts annual ACI Europe Technical, Operations and Safety Committee

Senior figures from European aviation gathered at Manchester Airport to discuss the key safety and operational issues and opportunities in the sector. More than 100 delegates attended the annual ACI Europe Technical, Operations and Safety Committee (TOSC).  

MAG, the UK’s largest airports group which owns Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, hosted the conference at the Concorde Conference Centre next to the UK’s global gateway in the North. Topics on the agenda included operational preparedness for the introduction of the digital EU entry and exit system, runway friction management and digital apron management. 

Committee attendees included Schiphol Airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport and Athens International Airport, alongside representatives from Eurocontrol, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and NATS.  

Chris Woodroofe, Managing Director at Manchester Airport, addressed the committee where he spoke about the importance of the UK aviation industry’s continued collaboration with ACI Europe. He said: 

“…Our relationship with ACI Europe is so crucial in a post-Brexit world. Despite the UK’s departure from the European Union, UK legislation aligns with EU regulations in many cases, and numerous EU policies have been transposed into UK law. We remain deeply connected to many of the issues that ACI addresses.” 

Mr Woodroofe emphasised how sustainable growth of the aviation industry is fundamental. Referencing the comprehensive decarbonisation roadmap the industry has already developed, he pointed to the use of more fuel-efficient aircraft, airspace modernisation, the production of sustainable aviation fuel and the progressive introduction of zero-emission aircraft as playing critical roles in getting the sector to net zero by 2050. 

He also spoke about MAG’s record-breaking passenger performance in recent months, which has seen Manchester Airport serve 30 million passengers across a 12 month period for the first time in its history, and London Stansted consistently break its monthly passenger records.  

MAG plays an active role in representing UK airports at ACI forums. Alongside Ken O’Toole’s appointment to the ACI Europe Board at its annual congress in July, Monika Simonaityte, Head of Air Traffic Management Strategy at MAG, sits as the current Vice-Chair of the Technical, Operations and Safety Committee.  

Passenger numbers continue to climb at EMA

Nearly 500,000 people travelled through East Midlands Airport (EMA) in September – a five percent increase on last year which contributed to another successful summer for the airport.

The airport’s 2024 peak season has so far seen 135,500 more passengers than last year choosing to fly from the most effortless and central airport in the country.

The latest passenger figures come after EMA was ranked second in the UK for overall experience in the internationally-recognised Airport Service Quality rankings and reached the finals for Airport of the Year in two national awards. Throughout the summer, EMA has kept waiting times for security to 15 minutes or less for more than 99% of its customers. It also introduced a wide range of customer improvements in the terminal.

The airport’s peak season officially runs until the end of this month, including the October half term when many families get away to more than 70 European and North African destinations within easy reach of EMA.

Up to 30 flights a day continue to depart from EMA this month, taking people to popular Spanish destinations such as Lanzarote, Mallorca, Alicante, Malaga, Fuerteventura, Tenerife and Reus; Greek options including Corfu, Crete, Kos and Rhodes; and Turkish resorts such as Antalya, Dalaman and Bodrum.

Save up to £675 on your next Summer holidays with Balkan Holidays

Book Summer 2025 and save up to £675 

Terms and conditions apply

/

Destinations in Italy, Portugal, Egypt, Tunisia, Poland, Ireland and Jersey also remain on the flight schedules.

As usual, the number of flights will reduce over the winter months – although plenty of city breaks will be on offer including popular destinations for Christmas markets and routes to ski resorts in the Alps and Bulgaria. Then EMA will be gearing up for what’s expected to be an even busier summer in 2025.

EMA’s Managing Director Steve Griffiths said: “The growth in the number of people choosing to fly from East Midlands Airport is testament to our brilliant team delivering on our promise of effortless travel from the heart of the country.

“We’re welcoming more people from further afield who prefer the stress-free start to their holidays that we offer. And we’re continually in conversation with our airlines and are very confident of our ongoing growth for the summer 2025 season. In the meantime, while it’s a quieter time of the year, there are plenty of holiday options from EMA over the winter months too.”

Winter is coming – so now’s your best and last chance this year to visit Game of Thrones city

Winter is coming – so it’s high time Game of Thrones fans booked a flight from East Midlands Airport to Dubrovnik to discover the real-life backdrops to some of the hit show’s key scenes.

Jet2 and TUI each offer flights of just under three hours from EMA to Dubrovnik until the end of October, resuming next spring. With the beautiful coastal Croatian city continuing to enjoy temperatures up to 24 degrees Celsius this month, and crowds smaller than during the peak season, it’s arguably the ideal time to visit for a short break.

A short shuttle bus trip from its airport, Dubrovnik doubled as Kings Landing during filming of Game of Thrones and plenty of people will enjoy finding locations for places in the show such as Blackwater Bay, the Red Keep and the steps and steep alleyways used for the infamous Walk of Shame scene, among many others.

While Game of Thrones tours of the old town are available, it’s a phenomenon that's easy to avoid, and there’s plenty to charm visitors who are unfamiliar with the fantasy TV series. The whole length of the old town’s fortified walls can be walked, offering stunning views across the Adriatic Sea and into the labyrinthine streets of the old town below. Entry is 35 euros – but a ticket is available for the same price which allows access to a number of other cultural attractions as well as local public transport.

East Midlands Airport up for two national awards.......

East Midlands Airport (EMA) is in line to be declared the UK’s best airport in two national awards, as well as being recognised for being a good neighbour to surrounding communities.

The National Transport Awards and the Travel Industry Awards by TTG have both shortlisted EMA in their Airport of the Year categories. EMA is also a finalist in the Positive Impact category of the Travel Industry Awards.

The Airport of the Year shortlisting recognises EMA’s focus on providing effortless travel for its passengers and seamless trade through its unrivalled cargo operation. Internationally-recognised Airport Service Quality rankings earlier this year placed EMA second in the UK for overall experience and 13th among 119 participating European airports for how people feel about their experience.

Over the past year, the airport has launched a £120m investment programme including improvements to customer facilities and security arrangements, as well as upgrading its Air Traffic Control equipment, runway and taxiways.

East Midlands Airport welcomes new cargo aircraft

A new cargo aircraft was welcomed to East Midlands Airport (EMA) this week as the airport grows its capacity and British cargo airline One Air boosts its fleet operating from the airport.

EMA is the UK’s number one air fright hub, supporting cargo-only aircraft carrying goods around the world.

One Air moved its operation from Heathrow Airport in April and is now based at EMA, running regular flights between Hong Kong and the UK. One Air’s move to EMA provided favourable availability for flight slots including night flying and fewer restrictions for all-cargo aircraft.

The latest aircraft brings its total fleet at EMA to three 747s – with the new arrival boasting a nose door as well as side door for loading and unloading. The original Boeing-built freighter also has a higher payload capacity of up to 124,000 kgs. It follows the second 747-400 which arrived at EMA in December to support One Air’s growing programme between China/Hong Kong and Europe. This represents rapid growth from a company which ran its first flights in July 2023 after receiving its AOC certification from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

The East Midlands Airport team giving local youngsters and adults their wings

East Midlands Airport (EMA) provides employment for around 800 people and supports 7,000 more jobs on the site – so it makes sense to give local people the right skills to join the workforce.

That’s why EMA set up the first UK airport ‘Aerozone’ education facility in 2010, with more than 31,000 youngsters passing through its doors since then. It has also established the EMA Academy, which since last December has been providing training and skills programmes in partnership with Nottingham College.

The Aerozone is for children aged four to 18, mostly at schools and colleges in a 15-mile radius around the airport, while the Academy offers free upskilling programmes and employability support to local unemployed adults. It is run by a small team, with Joanna Wood in charge of the Aerozone and Louisa Marsden, in a job share with Amy Smith, looking after the Academy.

The Aerozone and Academy moved to a new building on the airport site earlier this year. The Aerozone provides interactive role playing activities using real life props, equipment and uniforms for young people to get a feel for what different roles at the airport involve. This includes security, airfield operations, engineers and air traffic control, as well as pilots and cabin crew. New touch-screen equipment allows young people to explore how the aviation industry can decarbonise in the coming years. Attendees also hear from volunteer speakers from the airport and get terminal tours.  School visits can be tailored around various relevant curriculum topics such as the environment, history of flying and transport.

The team has recently played a part in producing the Little Book of Travel Tales, a new free booklet produced by EMA’s parent company Manchester Airports Group to be handed out to young travellers at EMA and its sister airports Manchester and Stansted. It’s proved very popular at EMA this summer and includes short stories, poems and drawings submitted by local pupils via the Aerozone.

Some students from Derby College’s travel and tourism course and Nottingham College’s aviation studies course are given work experience opportunities. The team is also taking in primary school children at the Aerozone for the Department for Transport Reach for the Skies aviation recruitment campaign and supporting the Fantasy Wings programme with work experience and regional conferences to encourage engagement and applications from young people in under-represented groups.

The Academy provides an industry-recognised ‘Introduction to the Aviation Industry’ accredited qualification through a free two-week course which runs once a month. It is offered to unemployed or low-income adult learners providing pre-employment and upskilling training including support with job applications and interviews.

Two million enjoy an effortless getaway from East Midlands Airport this summer

Summer 2024 has seen more than two million passengers use East Midlands Airport (EMA) for their holidays – almost 100,000 more than last year.

Last month alone, 545,000 people passed through the airport, adding to a total of 2,003,823 since the beginning of May. That’s up 97,097 on the same period in 2023, and around half of the total projected for the whole year.

The airport put in place a range of customer improvements ahead of the summer, including new and refurbished bars, a new shop, new toilets, baby changing facilities and multi faith room, extra seating, new trolleys and better wi-fi. This is part of a £120m five-year investment programme underway at the airport.

Some customers arriving at EMA in August have also experienced the new security arrangements which will come fully into effect next summer. One brand new security lane with state-of-the-art scanning equipment has been developed and opened ahead of similar improvements to the whole security hall in time for summer 2025. For the time-being, all customers still need to prepare for security in the usual way, but once all the new equipment is installed and ready next year, new rules will make getting through security at EMA even simpler.

Record breaking passenger numbers for Manchester and London Stansted, as MAG delivers strong summer for passengers

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is celebrating a record-breaking summer season, as passenger numbers reached an all-time high.

7 million passengers travelled through a MAG airport across August

Manchester Airport and London Stansted both marked their busiest ever months on record

Operational performance remained strong offering passengers an enjoyable summer holiday experience

In August, nearly 7 million people travelled through a MAG airport, which was 6.6% higher than in the same month in 2023.

That meant that across the peak summer season – July to August – more than 13 million passengers chose a MAG airport to start their holidays or overseas trips.

Rolling 12-month traffic figures show the Group – which owns Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports – has served 63.4 million passengers in the year to August 2024.

August was Manchester Airport’s busiest ever month on record, serving 3.4m passengers, which was up 8.8% on August 2023.

London Stansted also recorded its busiest-ever month with 3.1 million passengers flying through its terminal - an increase of 4.9% on August 2023. The month also saw the four busiest days in the airport’s history. The busiest day was 23 August with more than 103,000 passengers travelling through the airport, exceeding the previous busiest day on 24 August 2018.

East Midlands Airport served more than 540,000 passengers across August, which was up 2.8% on the same month in 2023. Over the summer season so far, more than two million passengers chose to fly from East Midlands Airport, benefitting from the recent improvements delivered as part of the five-year £120m investment into the airport.

Rescued chimp finds new home via East Midlands Airport

East Midlands Airport (EMA) played a vital part in bringing a chimpanzee rescued from poachers to its long-term home in Dorset’s acclaimed Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre.

Chocolat the female chimp was flown to EMA by DHL Express from Nairobi via Bahrain in a custom-built crate and supported by a team of specialist keepers, aircraft engineers, cargo handlers, security personnel and pilots. Throughout the trip Chocolat snacked on fresh fruit, nuts and sweet potato. From the airport, she was transported by road to her new home at Monkey World.

Chocolat’s family was hunted and killed when she was an infant, as part of the illegal bushmeat trade in the Republic of Congo. She had injuries from shotgun pellets that have left her with a paralysed hand and foot. She was rescued and cared for in Kenya for twenty years before finding her new home at Monkey World, which provides specialist care for chimpanzees that have been smuggled from the wild or suffered abuse or neglect.

To accommodate her needs, her new enclosure has been treated to upgrades such as lower platforms, new nesting areas and cargo nets, all designed to make Chocolat’s new home as accessible as possible. The 65-acre sanctuary is home to over 230 primates of 25 different species, with Chocolat joining 52 other chimpanzees.

Airside place to pray has opened at East Midlands Airport.......

A new multi-faith room has been opened in East Midlands Airport’s departure lounge, providing a space for customers and staff for prayer and quiet reflection.

It is the first such facility in the ‘airside’ part of the airport terminal beyond security checks – joining an existing prayer room located in the ‘landside’ check-in hall.

The new multi-faith room opens as the chaplaincy team based at EMA marks its 25th anniversary of providing support for staff and passengers of all faiths or none. Located upstairs in the departure lounge, it adds to other improvements in this part of the airport, including a refurbished Castle Rock Bar and Kitchen and new toilet and baby changing facilities.

Like the existing room in the check-in hall, the new room can be divided, enabling two groups to use it at the same time if necessary, as well as containing wash facilities for those who use water in their religious practices.  A variety of helpful religious material is also available.

The airport chaplains will oversee both facilities ensuring that they are cared for and used appropriately. The chaplaincy team is on hand to provide support, friendly advice, practical help, a listening ear and prayers for customers and staff. They take part in special events such as marking religious festivals and Remembrance Day, as well as supporting charities at home and abroad.

More people finding more to enjoy at East Midlands Airport

Growing numbers of people are enjoying starting their holidays at East Midlands Airport, according to the latest figures.

Last month saw more than 521,000 holidaymakers travel through the airport, a 5.2% increase on last July, as the peak summer season got underway.

And EMA has a host of new features in the terminal this summer to enhance people’s experience. As well as an existing seating area being upgraded earlier this year, a whole new seating area has recently been created in the departure lounge providing 60 extra seats for customers close to boarding gates.

Also in the departure lounge, a new Changing Places toilet and a modern baby changing facility have recently opened, with a new multi-faith room due to open soon in addition to an existing facility in the check-in hall. EMA customers will also notice a brand new bar, The Yard by Castle Rock, alongside a complete refurbishment of the popular Castle Rock Bar & Kitchen, toilet facilities and JD Sports shop.

Proving popular is the Little Book of Travel Tales for children as part of the airport’s newly-launched Little Flyers Club, whose five colourful cartoon characters can be seen on a selfie board in the terminal for young travellers to be pictured with. The book being handed out by customer ambassadors this summer has stories and activities to keep children occupied while on their travels.

MAG launches Little Book of Travel Tales in time for the school summer holidays!

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has launched its latest Little Book of Travel Tales to entertain young travellers this summer. 

 The book will be handed out by airport colleagues across terminals at Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports over the summer holiday period.  

It was created as part of a World Book Day competition earlier this year, which was held at schools surrounding all three airports, with schoolchildren given the chance to share their stories with passengers. 

Seven schools were involved in submitting their stories with themes including flights, aircraft, holidays and working at the airport. In addition to 13 different stories, the book includes puzzles, activities and a holiday diary.  

 The book has been published as part of MAG’s newly launched ‘Little Flyers Club’. The Club, set up for MAG’s young travellers, is made up of five animated characters – Jet, Porter, Casey, Carrie and Finn. With a dedicated webpage on all of MAG’s airport websites, parents can access both digital and print-out activities for their children (London Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands). The Club aims to educate and entertain children about travel and aviation as they fly off for their holidays. Young people can also find the characters as they travel through the airport and pose for a photo with their favourite. 

East Midlands Airport is ready for a bumper summer

East Midlands Airport (EMA) is ready to welcome around 774,000 customers over the school summer holiday period, as families prepare to fly to their favourite destinations across Europe.

The busiest day so far this year on Friday 19th July, will see almost 20,000 people pass through the airport – with staff and systems ready to ensure that it’s an easy and effortless experience.

Internationally recognised Airport Service Quality rankings earlier this year placed EMA in fifth place among 118 European airports for how people feel about their experience – and in 18th position for overall experience. More than 99% of customers clear security in under 15 minutes and an award-winning Assisted Travel service is available for anyone who needs additional help on their journey through the airport and onto their plane.

EMA serves more than 70 destinations across Europe and north Africa, mostly with Jet2, Tui and Ryanair. These offer beach holidays from Spain to Italy, Greece and its islands or popular alternatives such as Croatia and Bulgaria, as well as city breaks in European capitals from Rome, Berlin and Madrid to Budapest, Prague and Riga.

Smaller operators include Eastern Airways which launched a new route earlier this year to Paris Charles de Gaulle – offering a great way to get to this year’s summer Olympics, or connecting to hundreds of flights across the globe, bookable as one trip with Air France. Aurigny and Blue Islands offer flights to the Channel Islands, while Balkan Holidays fly to Bourgas on Bulgaria’s southern coast, and Aer Lingus can have you in Belfast in just over an hour.

Paris Olympic Games are within easy reach of East Midlands Airport with new daily flights

With just a fortnight to go to the Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, a new route from East Midlands Airport to Charles de Gaulle Airport is the perfect way to get there.

Taking place in venues across Paris from July 26 to August 11, this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games will put the focus on France for sports fans around the world. Brits hoping to attend this year’s Games can do so easily and effortlessly with daily flights in each direction operated seven days a week by Eastern Airways from EMA.

Operating into CDG’s terminal 3 with morning departures and evening returns, the Eastern Airways flights on low-emission 72-seat ATR aircraft include complimentary on-board service with fares starting at £94.99 for a one-way ticket.

Paris CDG offers excellent onward connections into the city centre and access to Olympic events. Trains leave the airport every ten to 20 minutes, taking just over half an hour to reach Gare du Nord, one of the city’s central stations. There are also frequent buses taking around an hour to reach central Paris – the same as taxis or hire cars which can be booked from the airport.

Many Olympic events are taking place in central Paris, including at the iconic Eiffel Tower where beach volleyball matches will be held. Other events include road cycling at the Trocadero, basketball and gymnastics at Arena Bercy, archery at Les Invalides and Roland Garros for tennis and boxing. These venues can be reached by the Metro system or other public transport options, or on foot from the city centre. The opening ceremony is set to break with tradition by being staged outside a stadium in the streets of Paris – with the parade taking place on the River Seine with athletes on boats - meaning many spectators can view the ceremony for free.

Passenger numbers up 7% year on year at MAG airports

MAG is well-placed for a strong summer holiday season, as it celebrated surging passenger volumes and high levels of customer satisfaction last month.

In June, 6.3m passengers travelled through a MAG airport, which was 7% higher than the same month in 2023.

Rolling 12-month traffic figures show that the Group - which owns Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports - has served 62.6m passengers in the year to June 2024.

Manchester and London Stansted Airports continue to have record breaking months. Manchester Airport served serving 3m passengers in June - up 6.7% year-on- year. London Stansted welcomed 2.8m passengers across the month, a figure which was up 8.3% on June 2023.

East Midlands Airport served more than half a million passengers across June, up 3.1% year-on-year.

Operational performance across the Group remains strong, with 100% of passengers at East Midlands Airport passing through security in 15 minutes or less, with the figure standing at 97% at both Manchester and London Stansted Airports.

Passenger satisfaction levels also demonstrate the positive experiences travellers are having at MAG airports. In the first six months of the year, nine out of 10 passengers rated their experience as ‘Excellent’, ‘Very Good’, or ‘Good’.

Last week, MAG published its annual results, with the Group announcing it has served 61.3m passengers in the year ended 31 March 2024, alongside record revenues of £1.2bn. MAG is now embarking on an investment programme of £2bn over the next five years across the Group – including the completion of the Manchester Airport Transformation Programme in 2025.

.

UK airports forced to reintroduce restrictions on carrying liquids over 100ml.....

Following updated guidance from the UK's Department for Transport, a temporary 100ml restriction on liquids has been reintroduced for passengers travelling from a number of regional airports that had invested in Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSC).

The Department for Transport said the reintroducing restrictions was not in response to a specific threat and  would "enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems" 

The change came into effect on Sunday morning and affects regional airports around the UK including including London Southend, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, London City, and Aberdeen. It has also been introduced at Jersey Airport in the Channel Islands.

The larger and busier airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester are not affected by the change as they still have the restrictions on liquids in place as the new scanners have not yet been installed there. 

London Southend Airport stated "passengers travelling through London Southend Airport can still keep everything, including all liquids and large electrical items, in their cabin baggage when passing through security.  Any liquids above 100ml will not be permitted to travel and must be voluntarily abandoned. Water bottles can be refilled after Security."

Ports of Jersey advised passengers would need to put all liquids, aerosols, gels and pastes carried in their hand luggage into the security trays for screening, adding that there was "no need" to place them in a plastic bag.

Nick Barton, the chief executive of Birmingham Airport condemned the temporary reinstatement of restrictions saying he was "very disappointed" by the news.  He also blamed passengers for the long queues at the airport, telling local media "A non-compliant bag with liquids over 100ml can add up to 20 minutes to each passenger's journey through security."

.  

New features bring benefits to hundreds of thousands of EMA passengers

More changes have been put in place to improve the passenger experience at East Midlands Airport ahead of the spring bank holiday and the busy summer ahead.

The improvements come as latest figures show that 328,000 passengers used the airport just last month, building on the success of the last financial year which saw overall passenger numbers top four million for the first time since the pandemic.

Stylish modern seating has been installed in the departure lounge, along with a tree sculpture which provides customers with charging points. The new-look seating area, providing extra customer seating, is just around the corner from a brand new JD Sports store which has opened in the largest retail unit in the terminal. The smaller unit that JD Sports vacated will be home to The Yard from later this month, a new bar offering more choice as travellers start their holidays.

More than 500 new trolleys are also available for customer use, while revolving front doors into the check-in hall and anti-backtrack doors into the arrivals hall have been replaced and upgraded. New and improved customer wi-fi is scheduled to come on stream across the terminal next month.

These improvements come on top of the refurbished Castle Rock Bar & Kitchen, with its enhanced dining areas and larger bar with extra tills to speed up service, while the toilet facilities nearby have been improved to a high standard. New baby changing facilities, Changing Place toilets and a new prayer room have all also opened in the departure lounge recently.

Air cargo growth at East Midlands Airport could lead to more than 12,000 new jobs.......

East Midlands Airport is poised to bolster its pivotal role in powering UK trade, with tens of thousands of jobs and billions in economic value set to be unlocked by growth in its cargo operation.

A new study has shown EMA has a unique combination of strengths that make it perfectly placed to support increased demand for air freight in the years ahead.

These include its central location and close proximity to major road and rail networks, and the fact that 80% of all large-scale warehouse sites are within 125 miles of EMA.

It also specialises in the handling of express air freight - carried in dedicated aircraft, not in the "belly" of passenger planes. It is this fastest-growing type of air cargo that is tipped to account for an ever-increasing share of all goods shipped around the world in the years to come.

And EMA has the capacity to accommodate an increase in cargo flights as the economy grows, while other key airports in the market face constraints.

These factors combine to place EMA in a strong position to build on its status as the UK's most important express air freight hub. A recent example of this growth in action was the move by British cargo airline One Air from Heathrow to East Midlands Airport.

The study - carried out by specialist air travel consultants York Aviation - says that air cargo growth at EMA will support between £687m and £1.8bn in additional GVA and between 2,700 and 12,600 extra jobs by 2030.

New Aerozone and Academy launched at EMA

East Midlands Airport’s Aerozone and Academy are to officially open in new premises this week, heralding a new era of insight into the aviation industry for local students, adult learners and jobs seekers.

The Aerozone, the airport’s on-site education centre, provides an interactive and inspirational learning environment for children and young people aged 4 to 18 and is free of charge for school and college visits. The Academy offers free adult training including an ‘Introduction to the Aviation Industry’ course, and tailor-made pre-employment and upskilling training for around 200 unemployed or low-income adult learners a year and existing employees.

Previously the Aerozone and Academy were based in a building close to the airport’s main administrative offices but have now been relocated to new premises nearby which will officially open their doors on Friday 19 April.

The occasion will be marked with a special Aerozone visit by a group of 11-13-year-olds from Farnborough Academy in Clifton, along with a cohort of adult learners coming to the end of a two-week Exploring the Aviation Industry course. The aim of the school visit is for the students to learn about the variety of roles at the airport and to experience, through hands-on activities, what it’s like to work at an airport. The Academy course, now provided in partnership with Nottingham College, gives attendees a direct route for career or study progression within the aviation industry.

The students will be greeted by EMA’s Managing Director Steve Griffiths, along with Lilian Greenwood, MP for Clifton’s constituency, Nottingham South.

Steve Griffiths said: “We’re really pleased to open new premises for our Aerozone and Academy. It underlines our ongoing commitment to inspire generations of young people through a range of tailored interactive experiences and activities, along with free training courses to equip people with the skills needed to take up various careers available at EMA.”

 

. Special discount limited time offerSave up to 30% now.