Against the odds

We successfully avoided delays in delivering the mail into Scotland on Monday night, thanks to a quick response by our air operations and logistics colleagues.   

‘We were notified that the runway at Edinburgh Airport had developed a hole in the centre line that required emergency repairs,’ explained air operations manager, Graeme Kelly.

‘Three of our flights were affected with two unable to land, which meant we risked failing to deliver a large volume of items for our customers on time.’ 

Our teams at Edinburgh and East Midlands airports, together with Graeme and optimisation and compliance lead, Salvatore Monachello, acted quickly to develop a contingency plan and divert the planes to Prestwick airport. Once at Prestwick, the mail was then delivered to the mail centres, with the vast majority connecting on Tuesday.

Martin Dagless, head of air and rail operations said: ‘This was a fantastic and highly professional effort by everyone involved. They acted quickly and showed real leadership and tenacity in arranging the contingency plan at Prestwick airport.’

Wayne Jay, national distribution director, added, ‘We gave our operational pipeline colleagues the chance of delivering for our customers the next day, which is superb. It could have been so different. Thank you to everyone involved for going above and beyond for our customers.’