Business routes

Not only is East Midlands Airport an international gateway providing local business with links to key destinations such as Brussels, Amsterdam and Dublin, it is also the UKs busiest pure freight airport – handling over 335,000 tonnes of cargo each year.

Our business routes include:

Amsterdam
Brussels
Belfast
Dublin
Edinburgh
Glasgow

2018 welcomes a fresh vision and continued approach to strengthening the East Midlands as a major cog in the UK’s economic cycle.

The airport is going from strength to strength; it has just enjoyed its busiest summer season since the global financial crash in 2008, and is likely to have served almost 5 million passengers this year.

It’s been a record breaking year for our cargo operation. Forecasts suggest that the value of non-EU goods shipped through this airport in the last 12 months will exceed £10bn which equates to 350,000 tonnes.

The organic growth of express carriers, driven by recent investment by DHL, plus the acquisition of TNT by FedEx have been key to this growth.

The airport’s role in shaping the region’s future ambition has, arguably, never been stronger. As key partners in both the Midlands Engine and Midlands Connect strategies, our growth and success is paramount to the health of the East Midlands. The airport site, which currently employs 7000 people, is identified as an economic hub in its own right and the potential for growth here is significant. This is being further boosted by the East Midlands Gateway rail freight development at Roxhill, which will create hundreds of new jobs.

Therefore it’s paramount that we begin planning for this growth. It’s no good creating jobs and more opportunities for doing business on-site if people can’t reach us easily. Feasibility studies are underway to consider the best way of connecting the proposed HS2 Toton Hub to the airport. In the shorter term we are lobbying government to ensure that whoever operates the East Midlands Rail franchise better utilises the potential for more frequent services to East Midlands Parkway from a wider catchment area. We are also working with local bus operators to expand the Skylink services to service more local communities.

Increased infrastructure investment and collaboration to drive economic growth will be key to the competitiveness of the East Midlands, particularly in a post-Brexit climate. There are signs of this happening as the three core cities collaborate more to present a united pitch to investors about the benefits of the region. We’re also pleased to be involved in shaping the Derby/Nottingham Metro strategy which will see closer working between the two cities which will benefit them, and the region as a whole, especially when preparing for the arrival of HS2.