Wind turbines help East Midlands Airport become the UK's 'greenest'

STAFF at East Midlands Airport are celebrating after reaching their goal to become the first airport in the country to make all ground operations carbon-neutral. The announcement was made as part of the release of the airport's parent company Manchester Airports Group's Corporate Social Responsibility and Annual Report and Accounts. It has invested £4 million in renewable energy sources, including a wind farm.

It is the first UK airport to plant an on-site 26 hectare willow farm, which produces fuel for a bio-mass boiler installed in the terminal building.

It also became the first airport in the country to install two on-site wind turbines, providing 5% of the airport's electricity. East Midlands also achieved the highest UK airport recycling rate of 88%, well exceeding the 40% target.

Neil Robinson, corporate affairs director at Manchester Airports Group, said: "I'm delighted and proud East Midlands Airport has become the UK's first airport to have carbon-neutral ground operations.

"We have gone farther than any other airport in the UK and we're looking forward to sharing our experience across the industry to reduce carbon emissions."

Meanwhile, the Manchester Airport Group's annual report, published today, showed that East Midlands achieved a 3.5% increase in revenue compared to last year, rising to £50 million.

Passenger numbers grew by 4.1% to 4.3 million. This helped MAG achieve an overall increase in profit of £13.5 million, to £65.5 million.

Earlier this year, it was announced that low-cost operator BMI Baby, the second largest airline at East Midlands, would operate its last route from the airport on September 9. Since then, airlines including Monarch, Flybe and Jet2 have announced plans to take over some of the 32 routes it [email protected]

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