The boss of East Midlands Airport says he is relishing the chance to grow the business now that Covid-19 is behind us – but said the new freeport which it is part of would probably only be a tiny part of that.
Steve Griffiths became managing director of the Castle Donington airport last October, having steered Stansted through the pandemic. He told BusinessLive it was refreshing to be back on a level playing field – albeit in an economy hit by the consequences of war in Ukraine.
East Midlands Airport (EMA) performed relatively well during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 thanks to its central UK location making it attractive to big freight companies including DHL, UPS, FedEx and Royal Mail.
It has the UK’s biggest share of the freight-only aircraft market – dedicated cargo flights rather than freight travelling in the bellies of passenger flights – handling more than 448,000 tonnes of goods a year. In fact, about a third of the airport income is from freight.
The airport is part of the new East Midlands Freeport which takes in the new warehousing business parks to the east and north as well as the Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station site – which is ripe for development – and the East Midlands Intermodal Park in South Derbyshire.
It is the only inland freeport, though the airport’s role as an import/export hub in the strategy will not be as significant as the seaports which have gained freeport status around the UK.
Instead it could see a small section of the airport site redeveloped, while fields it owns to the south of the A453, near the village of Diseworth, could also – controversially – one day be considered for development.
People living nearby are not happy about that, and the airport has said any future development will be subject to the usual planning process and public consultation.
Mr Griffiths said: “This is not an East Midlands Airport freeport, but a freeport for the East Midlands.
“We sit in the heart of it and the freeport spans across parts of the airport so we could be a beneficiary, but it all depends on what businesses it attracts and whether that business involves a lot of imports and exports.
“I guess the target of freeports is the advancement of engineering, logistics, technology, pharmaceutical, agri-foods. It could lead to imports and exports but we are not at the centre of the business case for the freeport.
“We could have a role to play in it but could have a very minimal role to play in it from an import and export point of view.
“We’re not necessarily planning on any upside at the moment. We are supportive of the freeport, we’re very, very clear on that, and in order to maximise the opportunity of the freeport it will require some development and some of that development could potentially happen on some of the land that we own.
“From that perspective there could be either some land sale or some property income south of the A453.
“There is another area that we could develop between [no the actual airport site] between the central apron and the western apron.
“You’d hope by having the DHL’s, UPS’s and Fed Ex’s here that if the right businesses grow within the freeport then we would obviously support that growth with the development of the airport.
“But what we’re not looking at is greater movements than we already have approved on the runway as well.”
With passenger numbers, pent-up demand lead to a busy 2022, with things already looking busier passenger-wise this year. More than 310,000 people passed through the terminal in April – the first full month of the ‘summer season’ – up a quarter on with the same month last year.
Overall this year, 4 million passengers are expected to use the airport – the vast majority of them holidaymakers – an uplift of more than 600,000 passengers compared with 2022.
Driving much of that are the airlines that base aircraft at EMA – Ryanair, JET2.com and TUI – which have all added to their fleets this year. Ryanair now operates eight aircraft out of EMA, JET2.com seven and TUI will run five planes this summer, compared to three last year.
Eastern Airways, which recently launched Newquay and Paris Orly flights, also has an aircraft based there, while Aer Lingus Regional serves Belfast, and Blue Islands and Aurigny both serve the Channel Islands.
By the May half-term holiday, the airport will be handling more than 100 passenger flights a day to more than 60 destinations, with 21 aircraft based out of the airport.
Mr Griffiths said growth could come from linking into the big hubs of national airlines such as Lufthansa, KLM or Air France for onward connections around the world – which could also bring in more business outside the peak summer season.
The airport employs 700 people, 50 or so more than before the pandemic, and is looking for more than 100 more people to work in its car parks, customer services, security, and to help with assisted travel.
Mr Griffiths said: “At the peak of summer we are looking to be at about 95 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
“We are pretty confident of staffing levels and making sure areas that impact customers are well maintained, and we have completed some of our departure lounge refresh ahead of the summer for people to enjoy the departure experience and restaurants as well.
“I think the key things are, if you put Covid behind you, that we are into our new financial year, a new summer, and the airport is back to growth.
“It’s got the base aircraft here of Ryanair, Jet2 and the Tui group, which is really, really important.
“We’ve been recruiting to make sure that we’re well prepared for the summer. We really focus on the customer service that we deliver – particularly on assisted travel, which we have won recent awards for – and we want to ensure this continues to be the regional airport of choice, where it’s seamless, easy, friendly and people know what they’re getting and they are going to get to where they want to go to.
“We are back to growth and are back to employing lots more people and we are a good employer within this region.
“Were able to put the East Midlands more on the map through the pandemic with the cargo operations, and the strategic role it has played in the growth of imports and exports through the UK.
“I think that is something, alongside the freeport now being announced, that puts a spotlight on the opportunity within the East Midlands for cargo growth.
“So when you look at all of those it’s a positive place to be, and we’ve built a business plan that looks at how this airport is run, how it’s been invested in, and how we can make sure of making the best of this airport.
“We are different to our other group airports, we’re different to Heathrow and Gatwick, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be the best airport for what we do.
“Our colleagues take enormous pride in that, and I saw that coming in to here. The passion, the pride, the commitment and desire to do things well is something we needed last year because demand came back so quickly.
“We’re stepping into a brighter future where we’re talking about the airlines we’re attracting, the destinations we’re flying to and the passenger growth and the fact that we have a five year investment plan as well.
“I led Stansted through the recovery, so stepping into another part of our business on the other side of the recovery I’m picking up the forward-looking picture, and that’s what you get your energy from.
“It’s about the art of the possible and having the right team about you and having the right attitude to want to do things well.”