Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9.2
Air-freight movements at East Midlands Airport: 20:00-07:00hrs
story. Freight uplift through East Midlands has grown from 11,116 tonnes in 1990
to 178,770 tonnes in 2000 (CAA, 2001), a staggering 1500 per cent increase com-
pared to the UK average of 95 per cent for the same period. The vast bulk of this
uplift is due to the overnight activities of DHL, although TNT Express, UPS and
the Royal Mail are also major operaters.
In order to cater for current and further growth, and in a joint finance venture
with East Midlands Airport Limited (the first of its type in Europe), DHL opened a
new 50,000m
2
sortation hub facility in April 2000 at a cost of UK£70 million with
a new 165,000m
2
cargo apron at a cost of UK£15 million to accommodate 18 air-
craft stands. Although capacity is available to meet forecast growth of throughput up
to over 1000 tonnes per night, this facility currently copes with a cargo throughput
of 400-500 tonnes per night with 48 daily aircraft movements. The pattern of air-
freighter movements for all freight operators based at the airport is shown in Figure
9.2. Of the 63 movements between 21:00-06:00hrs, DHL's operations typically
account for 40 of these.
The growth of night freight operations at the airport has prompted increased
pressure from local residents concerned about noise nuisance and sleep disturbance.
It is also a major focus of deliberations for the East Midlands Airport Independent
Consultative Forum. In order to address these concerns, DHL has entered into close
partnership with the airport company to introduce noise-related operational restric-
tions. Strategies that the airport and DHL are developing in response to these con-
cerns include:
•
introduction of noise-preference routes to ensure that aircraft overfly the least
number of people possible;
•
installation of aircraft noise and track-monitoring equipment;
•
differential charging between day and night-time cargo operations;
•
restrictions on flight operations to avoid overflying local villages;
