News / East Midlands poised to become 'UK's most important' express air freight hub

© Matthew Troke |

East Midlands Airport (EMA) is poised to become “the UK’s most important express air freight hub”, as demand for express shipments soar, according to a new report.  

While Heathrow (LHR) is by far the largest cargo airport in the UK – handling some 61% of all UK airfreight in 2022 – the majority of its volume is transported in bellyholds of passenger flights.  

EMA, however, attracts express air freight. It handled some 350,000 tonnes of cargo in 2022, some 18% of the UK’s air cargo market. A recent report by consultancies York Aviation and MDS Transmodal, commissioned by EMA, forecasts that airfreight volumes at the airport are set to rise by 54% by 2043. 

It says: “[Express] is the fastest-growing type of air cargo that is tipped to account for an ever-increasing share of all goods shipped around the world in the years to come.” 

It also notes that UK ecommerce sales grew to account for some 27% of all UK retail sales in 2022, up from just 3% in 2004 – and the sector has shown no signs of abating.

“The biggest trend impacting airfreight is Chinese ecommerce,” Bolloré’s director of Greater China operations, Basile Ricard, told Reuters earlier this year. 

The UK express airfreight market is dominated by DHL, UPS and FedEx, and the report suggests EMA is well-placed to benefit from the expected ecommerce and express airfreight growth, “given its position as a base for two leading major integrators, central location in the UK and links to European hubs”. 

It also notes that a similar trend can be observed when LHR and EMA are paralleled with mainland Europe. 

Airports such as Frankfurt, which transport cargo mostly in bellies, have seen freight volumes decline, whereas cargo-focused airports like Leipzig/Halle and Liege, which accommodate integrator operations, have seen volumes increase. 

Frankfurt saw a 10% decrease in airfreight volumes, from some 2.2m tonnes in 2018 to just under 2m tonnes in 2022. Liege, a popular ecommerce handling hub, saw an increase of about 21% across the same period, from 870,644 tonnes to just over 1.1m tonnes.  

Furthermore, just over 80% of all large-scale warehousing is within 200km of EMA, and just 53% of LHR. 

Sources have told The Loadstar restrictions at LHR have made it hard for freighter operators. Some have even begun flying to Glasgow Prestwick instead, and then trucking the cargo south, but costs have become a problem. 

The report, commissioned by EMA owner Manchester Airports Group, concludes that further growth of cargo activity at EMA is expected to create a “significant amount” of economic activity and new jobs.  

By 2030, it is predicted that this process will encourage between £687m and £1.8bn ($862m-$2.28bn) of goods value and between 2,700 and 12,600 new jobs.