UPS eyes expansion of East Midlands Airport freight terminal 
Delivery company UPS is planning to build a new airfreight terminal at East Midlands Airport that could generate more than 1,000 new jobs. The company's existing facility at the site is its second-largest in Europe, handling 100 million packages in the past decade and employing 342 people. Plans submitted to the local authorities envisage a £114m ($152m) sorting office providing 450,000 sq ft of floor space, enabling the company to speed up and expand its services.

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More than 1,000 new jobs could be on their way to East Midlands Airport after parcel delivery firm UPS submitted plans to build a new £100 million-plus air freight terminal.

The firm wants to build a huge new sorting and delivery complex on a 28.5-acre site to the east of the Castle Donington airport.

East Midlands is already UPS’s biggest air gateway in Britain and its second biggest in Europe, behind Cologne.

Its current hub covers 86,000 sq ft and employs 342 package handlers, screeners, clerical workers, support staff, team leaders, supervisors and a manager.

Over the past decade it has processed 100 million packages there, serviced by six flights a day.

It is understood the parcel giant could invest up to £114 million in the new site – making it one of the biggest projects it has ever undertaken.

A design and access statement submitted as part of a planning application to North West Leicestershire District Council show the 24-hour operation could employ 936 people within two years and 1,392 within eight years.

The site, between the airport and M1, is next to Pegasus Business Park and is currently used for parking.

Planning documents say the new complex would speed up the operations of UPS at the airport and provide it with room for growth.

The main hub would have more than 450,000sq ft of floor space. A smaller office building to the east of the main hub would have 28,000 sq ft of floor space.

In a statement a UPS spokeswoman said: “UPS is always looking to make strategic investments that provide opportunities to grow our business and to strengthen the services and solutions that we bring to our customers.

“We can confirm that planning permission has been submitted for expansion of our operations at the East Midlands Airport.

“Given that the planning stage is not finalised at this time, we are not able to provide further specifics.”

East Midlands Airport is already the UK’s busiest pure cargo airport, second only to Heathrow – handling more than 320,000 tonnes of flown cargo every year.

The airport hopes to triple freight shipments to one million tonnes a year within the next 10 to 20 years.

It is already a UK hub for UPS, and provides support operations for TNT and Royal Mail.

And, last year DHL, opened a £90 million extension to its huge depot on the site.

Andy Cliffe, managing director at East Midlands Airport, said: “There are still very positive growth conversations at the airport – UPS has recently submitted £100 million plans for a new parcel distribution facility here.

“That’s a significant addition to what they already have at the airport and we take transatlantic flights for those guys and from all over Europe.

“DHL have their extension, while on the passenger side we are still in growth mode.

“I would describe this as a time of enormous opportunities, but at the same time some of the risks (associated with Brexit) are very significant.”