New figures reveal record levels of employment in and around Luton Airport

Research conducted by Luton Council, and published in London Luton Airport’s 2023 Sustainability Report, found that in 2023, 12,100 people were employed in and around the airport, and that 84 per cent of these jobs were full-time.

There was also an increase in employment by nine per cent between 2022 and 2023 and is now at record levels, the council has said.

The majority of jobs (6,400) were in the transportation and storage sector, while 4,200 were responsible for administration and support.

This news comes as Luton Rising, Luton Borough Council’s company which owns the airport, is looking to get approval for the airport’s passenger capacity to be increase to 32 million per year by the mid-2040s.

But not everyone has welcomed the figures. Andrew Lambourne is from LADACAN (Luton And District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise), a group opposed to seeing the airport allowed to expand.

He said “Whilst local jobs are valuable, so is sustainability and quality of life.

"We all know that the climate crisis is worsening, and aviation is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. Our local economy needs to be built on truly sustainable growth, not on a noisy and polluting industry which is vulnerable to the new government facing up to the fact that aviation emissions must be reduced, not allowed to continue to grow unchecked.

"Luton Airport’s owners continue to put all their economic eggs into one basket by hyping the airport as the bright economic future for Luton

Despite this, Paul Kehoe CBE, chair of Luton Rising, said: “Employment at and surrounding London Luton Airport contributes significant economic benefits to Luton as a whole and to the region. A large number of businesses are based in Luton due to the presence of the airport.

“Our expansion proposals represent one of the region’s biggest job creation programmes in a generation, and are central to Luton’s transformation into a vibrant service economy. It’s our mission to raise the standard of living for local residents, and build an economic air bridge in the heart of the Golden Triangle.”