Sparkling Diamond Anniversary treat for East Midlands Airport – new electric buses
Electric buses are now serving East Midlands Airport, further contributing towards its target to be a net zero operation by 2038.
The move by Diamond Bus East Midlands comes as the airport celebrates its diamond anniversary year, and follows a recent announcement that East Midlands Airport’s entire fleet of ground vehicles are now running on biodiesel, reducing emissions by up to 90%. These improvements support the newly launched five-year Sustainability Strategy ‘Creating a sustainable future for all’ of the airport’s parent company Manchester Airports Group.
The 9 Airway service is operated by Diamond Bus in partnership with Staffordshire County Council, Derbyshire Council, East Midlands Airport and Segro Logistics park East Midlands Gateway. It runs between Burton upon Trent and East Midlands Airport & Gateway via Swadlincote and Ashby de la Zouch. The service operates seven days a week with hourly services to the airport and Gateway sites.
Four brand new electric buses have now been launched on the route, funded through the Government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) 2 scheme - a £129m Government fund to introduce Zero Emission buses across the UK. The new buses, which have been funded in Partnership with Staffordshire County Council and the Department for Transport, are anticipated to contribute to a carbon saving of 8,692 tonnes CO2e a year in Staffordshire alone.
East Midlands Airport has been carbon neutral since 2012 and was the UK’s first airport to be certified carbon neutral by the Airport Carbon Accreditation scheme. The airport has implemented a range of decarbonisation measures at the site, including investing in energy efficiency measures, installing commercial grade wind turbines and using 100% electricity from renewable sources.
Over the last year, the airport has introduced two new electric ‘ambulifts’ which transport passengers with reduced mobility to aircraft, installed electric vehicle (EV) charging points for vehicles operating on the airfield an switched its fleet of 62 ground vehicles to biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oils and fats which undergo a hydrogen treatment to be turned into renewable fuel. In other initiatives, the airport also diverts 100% of its waste from landfill, and uses car parking revenue to improve public transport options to access the site.
Diamond Bus has been working in partnership with Derbyshire County Council, EMA and EMG group to ensure the service provides a timetable which suits shift workers at the various businesses located on these sites, with buses running from early morning to late evening every day.
East Midlands Airport’s Managing Director, Steve Griffiths, said: “We’re delighted that Diamond Bus East Midlands have started operating electric buses on their route serving the airport. It comes as our new five-year Sustainability Strategy is launched, pledging that we will reach net zero operations by 2038.
“This gets us closer to achieving that and gives people a great alternative option to the car to get to and from the airport.”