Air, Feature, Freight News


East Midlands reorganises for growth

[ July 8, 2025   //   ]

East Midlands Airport is reorganising its aircraft stands to increase capacity for cargo and passengers as part of its recently-unveiled plans to develop parts of the airfield to facilitate forecast growth in freight operations.

The east and west aprons are dedicated to cargo and the central apron handles all passenger flights. During the summer season, the 23 stands for passenger aircraft are full and with growing numbers of cargo airlines also choosing East Midlands, teams at the airport were tasked with finding a way to grow capacity within the existing apron space.

This required a complex redesign, procedural overhauls and even cultural shifts, all while focusing on safety.

The result can be seen in new markings recently completed on the east and west aprons, which has doubled the airport’s capacity for wide-bodied cargo aircraft to seven. The work will continue on the central apron to create four more stands for passenger aircraft. This will include a comprehensive review of current capacity levels, exploring ways to optimise assets and create additional space to support future passenger growth.

Head of airfield operations Lauren Turner said: “The operation of an airfield is quite rightly highly regulated to ensure safety, and so any changes to layouts is a huge challenge involving a lot of different specialist knowledge at the airport. At East Midlands we have the extra challenge of being two airports in one – a friendly, customer-focused passenger airport by day and the UK’s number one airport for cargo by night.

“Our teams rose magnificently to this challenge and have found solutions to enable more cargo and passenger aircraft to operate from East Midlands. Both parts of our business work hand in hand to ensure our long-term success so it’s crucial that we continue to invest in both areas. These changes will help us meet our medium-term plans to grow both sides of our business as we successfully attract more airlines to choose East Midlands as the best place for new operations.”

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