Airport ready to take off
A CAMPAIGN has been launched to encourage Northamptonshire business people to use East Midlands Airport instead of flying from Luton or Birmingham. When booking business trips and package holidays, Northamptonshire residents usually choose to fly from Luton or Birmingham instead of the region's own airport, which is located near Castle Donington between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. Now the East Midlands Development Agency and airport management are targeting county businessmen in a bid to persuade them to use the airport.
East Midlands Airport and the agency have jointly commissioned draft plans on how the airport can best contribute to the economy of the region. County businessmen will be asked for their opinions on the draft action plan.
Planning, transport and housing adviser at the East Midlands Development Agency, Julie Tanner, said: "We recognise that the continued growth of East Midlands Airport is of central importance to the future of the East Midlands economy and is vital to achieving the ambition of becoming a top 20 region by 2010."
She said the continued growth of the airport would make an important contribution to making the east Midlands a competitive region. She said: "At the same time, the growth of aviation inevitably has environmental implications that will need to be managed and minimised, and take into account the high importance of creating sustainable communities.
"We now need everybody's opinion on the draft strategy so we can put together a comprehensive plan of action to make sure the future of the airport meets the region's needs."
A final strategy will be drawn up by the end of the year and will take into account any feedback received as well as the results of a sustainability appraisal.
East Midlands Airport – the facts:
l East Midlands Airport handled 3.2 million passengers last year. This is expected to rise to 4.5 million this year and to 15.3 million by 2030
l The airport provided scheduled services to 30 destinations during the summer – 23 were international and seven domestic
l In August there were 297 scheduled service departures per week from the airport
l Last year, the airport handled almost 230,000 tons of freight and mail. By 2030 this is expected to rise to 2.6 million tons
l Measured by volume of freight traffic, East Midlands is the third largest airport in the country, after Heathrow and Gatwick
l The airport supports the equivalent of around 9,100 full-time jobs and generated £198m of income for the East Midlands in 2001
l It is estimated that employment would rise by about 26,800 full-time jobs and regional income would rise to £1,154 million by 2030.
11 November 2003