East Midlands airport handled more freight, due to Covid and internet shopping
East Midlands airport handled 381,954 tonnes of air freight in 2020 (14% up from 2019). The freight tonnage at Heathrow in 2020 was 1,146,310 which was down -28% compared to 2019. The total tonnage of air freight at UK airports was 2,002,187 tonnes in 2020 (21% down on 2019) – it had been 2,535,423 tonnes in 2019. East Midlands airport says it is now a major hub for dedicated express freight operators such as DHL, UPS, FedEx and the Royal Mail. There has been growth of SEGRO’s vast East Midlands Gateway distribution park to the north and the new Maritime Rail Freight Interchange linking the park to the rail network. The rise in internet shopping has also added to freight movements. During early 2020 there had been a lot of air freight, bringing in personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies. This had caused airlines to be willing to pay the added costs of flying at night and in older or more noisy aircraft. This had been unpleasant for people being noisily over-flown at night as 60% of the airport’s freight cargo was flown between 11pm to 7am.
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CAA data on air freight in 2020
The tonnage of freight handled by East Midlands airport was
273 669 tonnes in 2010
300 101 in 2016
324 216 in 2017
334 536 in 2018
335 948 in 2019
381 954 in 2020 (14% up from 2019)
The freight tonnage at Heathrow in 2020 was 1,146,310 which was down -28% compared to 2019.
2,002,187 tonnes of all UK airports freight in 2020 (21% down on 2019)
2,535,423 tonnes of all UK airports freight in 2019
https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA/Content/Standard_Content/Data_and_analysis/Datasets/Airport_stats/Airport_data_2020_annual/Table_13_2_Freight.pdf
East Midlands Airport passenger numbers still struggling to recover, but strong growth expected from freight
2.12.2021 (Business Live)
[ …Long article – just the bits about freight here …]
While passenger flights have been devastated by global lockdowns – down 90% at the start of the year – the airport has seen a big rise in cargo-only planes. The airport is now a major hub for dedicated express freight operators such as DHL, UPS, FedEx and the Royal Mail.
Expansion within the airport has been coupled with the growth of SEGRO’s vast East Midlands Gateway distribution park to the north and the new Maritime Rail Freight Interchange linking the park to the rail network.
The rise in internet shopping has also added to freight movements.
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He was also asked about the planned East Midlands Freeport, aimed at bringing billions of pounds of investment and thousands of jobs to the region, with the airport as an anchor for the Government-backed project. It is still awaiting final sign off from Whitehall.
Mr Robinson said: “We are expecting East Midlands Airport to grow. The passenger numbers have been more challenging and slower to recover than we would have hoped, but we expect freight to grow pretty strongly.
“It is difficult, the freeport, when East Midlands Airport grows it helps the whole economy and the airport grows if the economy is growing, with or without the freeport. I wouldn’t expect the freeport to really change what we do.
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Mr Robinson said that due to the airport’s almost unique focus on freight, particularly during the pandemic, the amount of freight cargo it was handling was up 15 to 20%.
Mr Robinson said during lockdown and particularly the first wave of Covid-19 airline companies needed to fly in huge amounts of personal protective equipment and other supplies as often and as quickly as possible.
This, he said, saw more airlines willing to pay the added costs of flying at night and in older or more noisy aircraft which, councillors said, had been noticed by residents in the flight paths.
He said 60% of the airport’s freight cargo was flown between 11pm to 7am due to the need for have deliveries to ready first thing in the morning and to make way for passenger flights in daytime hours.
Mr Robinson said 99.9% of night flights met current noise standards.
https://www.business-live.co.uk/ports-logistics/east-midlands-airport-passenger-numbers-22328346
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