East Midlands Airport gives region “significant competitive edge,” says East Midlands Mayor

East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward has described East Midlands Airport as “one of the region’s greatest assets.”

Her comments come as East Midlands is crowned Airport of the Year at the National Transport Awards and it records further growth in both its passenger and cargo operations. The airport’s Managing Director Steve Griffiths was also named Ambassador of the Year at the East Midlands Business Awards last week.

September saw East Midlands Airport experience its strongest monthly passenger growth of the year, handling more than 483,000 travellers as demand for flights continued to increase. Passenger numbers rose by almost 8% year on year, representing an additional 35,000 passengers compared to last September.

The Civil Aviation Authority also recently ranked it number one for customer satisfaction in its annual survey of UK airport passengers.

Meanwhile it has handled 210,800 tonnes of cargo so far this year – up by 5% or almost 10,000 tonnes on last year. In September alone it carried 36,000 tonnes, which was a 6.3% increase on last September.

New statistics show that East Midlands Airport, and its cargo operation in particular, contributed £6.2bn to the UK economy last year. The region itself benefited from a £1.5bn economic boost from the airport, which supported 15,430 local jobs.

Mayor Claire Ward says that as the UK's largest dedicated freight airport and the primary gateway to the East Midlands Freeport, the airport connects businesses to global markets and supports thousands of jobs - all at the heart of the country.

She said: “East Midlands Airport is one of the region's greatest economic assets. As an island nation in our modern globalised world, it’s essential that we can trade effectively on the international stage. Having an airport gives us a significant competitive edge and makes the East Midlands a region that is in a strong position to support and grow existing businesses as well as attracting new ones.”

Read her full comments in her guest blog here.