FedEx Express has launched a new four days a week flight from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and East Midlands Airport (EMA) in the UK to its Indianapolis hub in the US to handle surging e-commerce volumes.
The express carrier said it would increase next-day delivery capacity to the US, with the Boeing 777-operated flight adding 626,000lbs (284,000kg) capacity per week to the FedEx Express transatlantic network, including 160,000lbs dedicated to the UK. The carrier nowoperates three transatlantic flights out of the country.
EMA was selected for its strategic location, a four-hour truck drive to 90% of the population of England and Wales, and is close to the concentration of e-commerce businesses in the English Midlands ’Golden Triangle’.
Vice president of operations UK, Edward Clarke, said: ‘‘The UK is the fourth largest e-commerce market in the world, and the pandemic has driven even higher demand for online goods, including into the US.” The new flight would give UK firms additional capacity and enable them to compete with domestic e-commerce businesses in the US, he added.
EMA managing director, Clare James, said: “FedEx’s decision to route its new transatlantic service through EMA is a ringing endorsement of this airport’s important role as a vital hub for facilitating global trade between the UK and its key partners.”
She said the FedEx’s business would help sustain jobs and investment at the airport.
