East Midlands Airport continues to work towards a brighter future with communities and partners
Schools and community groups have received nearly £600,000 from East Midlands Airport over the past five years, with 1,300 young people inspired about a career in aviation.
These are just some of the achievements revealed in a new report outlining the airport’s sustainability work between 2020-2025.
The report - ‘Working together for a brighter future’ - has been released by parent company MAG and tracks progress against its commitments on decarbonisation, providing pathways to education, skills and employment opportunities and engaging with neighbouring communities.
On decarbonisation, the airport continues to make progress towards its target of becoming net zero carbon by 2038, including investing in electric vehicles and charging points, becoming a member of the East Midlands Hydrogen Cluster and supporting the increased use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
An Eco Gardens competition run by the airport saw 25 schools receive more than £290,000 of funding, including St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy in Alvaston, which completed the development of their Eco Garden thanks to a £9,285 contribution from the fund (pictured below, left).
A further £280,000 was handed out to 115 charities and community groups across the region from the airport’s Community Fund, supporting a wide range of local projects, such as a new trim trail for Orchard Primary School in Castle Donington (pictured below, right) and new tennis court surfaces at Gotham Sports Arena, each receiving £2,000 towards their projects.
East Midlands Airport was the first in the country to establish an Aerozone in 2010 to encourage interest in aviation from a young age, with almost 33,000 young people attending since then – 1,300 of them during the last five years. The Aerozone is for children aged four to 18, mostly at schools and colleges in a 15-mile radius around the airport. It provides interactive role-playing activities for young people to get a feel for what different roles at the airport involve.
The airport’s Academy meanwhile provides an industry-recognised ‘Introduction to the Aviation Industry’ accredited qualification through a free two-week course which runs once a month. It is offered to unemployed or low-income adult learners providing pre-employment and upskilling training including support with job applications and interviews. Over the last year almost 4,000 people completed the course, with 34% finding work on the airport site afterwards. Both the Academy and Aerozone opened in new airport premises last year.
A dozen cadets are also taken on during the summer holidays every year from Aviation Management and Travel & Tourism courses run by Loughborough and Nottingham Colleges, supporting the Customer Ambassadors and Assisted Travel team, often gaining employment at the airport. Two current members of the team, William Mellor and Libby Ford (pictured above), came through the cadet programme last year and say it offered great experience of working at the airport with a team and with passengers, which encouraged them to take up their roles.
The airport has also staged annual jobs fairs linking job seekers with a range of roles at the airport and with other employers on the wider airport site. Local businesses have also been invited to attend Meet the Buyers events to link them to the airport’s substantial supply chain – a move which generated £1.8m of business for small and medium sized firms.
31% of all airport staff, including every manager, took up volunteering opportunities, totalling 3,798 hours of activities, while the airport also had a presence at 106 community events over the past year. The airport also has ongoing engagement about noise minimisation, with a Noise Action Plan developed in consultation with local communities adopted by Government, including a ban on the noisiest aircraft.
The airport has also hosted two Youth Summits bringing together members of Youth Forums at all three of Manchester Airports Group’s airports – East Midlands, Manchester and Stansted - to discuss how to shape and deliver a sustainable future for aviation.
East Midlands Airport’s Managing Director Steve Griffiths said: “I look back with pride at all our airport has achieved over the last five years. Despite facing unique challenges from the pandemic, our airport and colleagues remained steadfast in their commitment to driving initiatives to deliver on our three strategic priorities: Zero Carbon Airport, Opportunity for All and Local Voices. Across the five years of our strategy, we have achieved many significant milestones.
“We know that we must continue to be ambitious with our approach to sustainability. Our new Sustainability Strategy builds on a more than two decades-long commitment to sustainability as our industry moves towards net zero targets. It reaffirms our commitment to providing opportunities for education and employment, as well as ensuring the voices of those who live closest to our airport are heard, understood and valued.”
Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward said: “East Midlands Airport is an excellent example of an industry-leading employer investing in its future workforce, from encouraging interest in the sector at a young age through the Aerozone, to offering training and work experience which develops skills and leads to meaningful employment, through its Academy and cadets programmes.
“These are exactly the types of programmes I want to see more of. Supporting people to develop skills and secure better-paid jobs is a cornerstone of my newly launched East Midlands Growth Plan.
“I look forward to working with East Midlands Airport in the coming months and years to help deliver on this commitment.”
The full report, Working together for a brighter future, can be viewed here: Working together for a brighter future