York Aviation Report: Importance of Express Services

In 2023, the Association of International Courier and Express Services (AICES) commissioned York Aviation to
conduct research into the importance of international express services to UK businesses. Express operators
provide fast, time-definite, door-to-door movement of shipments which are tracked and controlled
throughout the journey. Each year, AICES members import and export over 250 million international
shipments to and from the UK. They are highly dependent on night flights to provide this connectivity.
The primary purpose of this report is to add further detail to previous economic analysis conducted by York
Aviation in 2021 on the impact of night flying in the UK, which showed that flights in the night period (23:00
to 06:59) generated a total economic impact of £16.5 billion in terms of GVA in 2019, supporting
approximately 213,200 jobs. This report also detailed the economic impact of curtailing these flights, with
even a 50% reduction of aircraft movements resulting in a total economic impact of £5.1 billion and with
62,000 jobs being put at risk.
The present study adds further context to these findings by obtaining feedback from UK companies who use
express services as part of their business processes via a customer survey, which received 255 responses. Six
in depth interviews were also conducted to produce case studies across key sectors including healthcare and
life sciences, manufacturing, electronics, engineering and the automotive industry. The goal was to build a
picture of how and why UK businesses use express services, and consequently their relevance to the UK
economic growth and international competitiveness.
Most of the businesses surveyed use express parcels services every day or at least once a week – with speed
of delivery being the most commonly cited reason for using express services. This demonstrates why
aviation capacity and in particular night flights are so important to express customers.