Last month alone, 545,000 people passed through the airport, adding to a total of 2,003,823 since the beginning of May. That’s up 97,097 on the same period in 2023, and around half of the total projected for the whole year.
The airport put in place a range of customer improvements ahead of the summer, including new and refurbished bars, a new shop, new toilets, baby changing facilities and multi faith room, extra seating, new trolleys and better wi-fi. This is part of a £120m five-year investment programme underway at the airport.
Some customers arriving at EMA in August have also experienced the new security arrangements which will come fully into effect next summer. One brand new security lane with state-of-the-art scanning equipment has been developed and opened ahead of similar improvements to the whole security hall in time for summer 2025. For the time-being, all customers still need to prepare for security in the usual way, but once all the new equipment is installed and ready next year, new rules will make getting through security at EMA even simpler.
Not that it’s tricky now – for the whole of summer 2024, no customers queued for more than 15 minutes for security, underlining EMA’s reputation for effortless travel. Customers facing any physical and non-physical barrier to travelling by air have also continued to have a great experience at EMA, with the airport’s Assisted Travel Service rated Very Good by the Civil Aviation Authority for the fifth year in a row.
Customers from the East Midlands as well as South Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire are attracted to EMA as an airport that’s easy to get to and get through, with a choice of popular leisure destinations across Europe and beyond. This summer saw Naples and Paris Charles de Gaulle added as new options for EMA customers.
EMA’s summer schedule runs to the end of October, to include the autumn half term break – and so there is still plenty of choice in the coming months for getaways for some late summer sun.
EMA’s Managing Director Steve Griffiths said: “We have had a fantastic summer so far this year, and we’re glad to have helped our customers have one too.
“Even though two million customers means it’s been busy, we have continued to provide people with an effortless start to their holidays, with 100% of our customers queuing for only 15 minutes or less for security throughout the summer.
“Not only that, but customers benefited from significant improvements we have implemented throughout the terminal, including the start of new security arrangements which will come fully on stream next year, bringing with them a total transformation of our security hall for summer 2025.”
