Galliford Try has landed the job to re-surface the runway at East Midlands Airport through a number of intensive weekend possessions over a seven week period.

The project is an ambitious one and is a first for runway refurbishment as a360 strong workforce will lay 50,000 tonnes of specially formulated material across a 150,000m2 runway.

The full length runway replacement will be carried out in November and December this year.

Galliford Try Aviation Director, Colin Abbott, commented: “We’re delighted to be working with the East Midlands Airport team on the refurbishment of their runway.

“Logistics make this an exceptionally challenging project and due to the hard work of all involved scoping out every possible scenario, we have every confidence that the scheme will be delivered safely and on time.”

Although the runway is not operational, the airport will also replace more than 1200 lights in and around the area with LED lighting, which is better for the environment.

Meanwhile, Managing Director at East Midlands Airport, Andy Cliffe, said that the decision to complete the project in this way was reached after lengthy consultations with their airlines and cargo operators. It is hoped that the chosen course of action with be the best way of avoiding significant disruption in the run up to Christmas.

Cliffe added: “The timing for us is crucial and we had to look to do this in the winter season, when we naturally aren’t as busy.”

Manchester Airport Group, owner of East Midlands Airport, has set out an eight year airfield works programme across its four airports worth about £200 million.

Last month, more than half a million passengers flew from East Midlands Airport, which was an increase of 6.3% from the same period last year.

A total of 570,581 people travelled through the airport to destinations such as Tenerife, Alicante, Palma, Malaga and Faro.