East Midlands Airport's had a flying start to the year

The airport's seen an increase of almost 30% during what is traditionally a quieter time of the year. The 177,184 people who travelled through EMA during January boosted the overall total for the rolling 12 months to 3.9m, close to pre-pandemic levels.

The latest stats are revealed as the airport gears up for the half-term break, when 105,000 passengers are booked to fly – a 16% increase on last year.

Bosses say it demonstrates a huge vote of confidence in EMA among its customers and bodes well for the airports best summer yet with more people picking it as their airport of choice from a wider catchment.

As well as residents from the three East Midlands counties surrounding the airport, people from areas including South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire are increasingly choosing EMA as their low-cost gateway to Europe and beyond.

By the summer, passengers will also benefit from some of the first improvements that have been carried out as part of a £120m investment programme at EMA. This includes upgraded toilets, a refreshed Castle Rock bar, new seating, better customer wi-fi throughout the terminal and new trolleys.

And two of the main airlines serving EMA, Tui and Jet 2, are each adding an extra aircraft to those that are based at the airport, meaning the aircraft stands will be at capacity this summer.

EMA’s Managing Director Steve Griffiths said: “The number of people choosing us compared to January last year is really encouraging. We’re pleased that increasing numbers of people are flying through East Midlands Airport for their European holidays, and these figures give us confidence for a strong performance this half term holiday and an even stronger summer.

“We know that more people from further afield are willing to make longer journeys to EMA, in the knowledge that their experience here won’t be stressful, as it can be at other airports. The vast majority of our customers clear security in under 15 minutes so they can start to relax and get into holiday mode sooner".