Derbyshire Times
Stephean Richeux
11 Feb 2026
Significant growth in East Midlands Airport’s cargo operation is being achieved with fewer aircraft movements and less impact on local communities, it can be revealed.
A combination of changing routes and new aircraft means that since the start of the new financial year in April, the airport - the UK’s number one express air freight hub - has seen a fall of more than 1,300 freight aircraft movements while recording an overall rise in cargo of 44,280 tonnes.
There were 18,400 freight aircraft movements at the airport across the past ten months – a fall of seven per cent or on average 133 fewer per month than in prior years – while 345,800 tonnes of cargo of cargo was carried, up 15 per cent on the previous year.
This corresponds with an increase in inter-continental flights to Asia and the US and a drop in shorter flights to Europe. This in turn means larger aircraft carrying more freight per flight operating on these routes...
