London Luton Airport (LLA) has raised over £28,000 for National Literacy Trust and Tokko Youth Hub, since launching partnerships with the two charities earlier this year.

Fundraising events organised by employees across the airport have included the LLA Golf Day and Runway Run, two established and hugely popular events in the airport’s annual fundraising calendar. 

The 2025 LLA Golf Day, hosted at Pavenham Park Golf Club, raised a record-breaking £24,000 – the highest total in the event’s 12-year history, while the hugely popular Runway Run returned for its sixth year, providing early risers from across the airport with the opportunity to complete a pre-Dawn run of the 1.3-mile (2.2km) runway and back again.

Neil Thompson, Chief Operations Officer at London Luton Airport, said: “London Luton Airport’s fundraising calendar is packed full of exciting opportunities for colleagues from across the airport to come together and support the work of our fantastic charity partners. LLA is committed to delivering significant and enduring social benefit, and our partnerships with National Literacy Trust and Tokko Youth Hub underline our focus on driving impactful education and skills development opportunities for young people in our local community and beyond. Our work with these charities also aligns with our support for Luton Council’s 2040 vision to build a healthy, fair and sustainable town where everyone can thrive.”

The partnerships with National Literacy Trust and Tokko Youth Hub form part of LLA’s broader approach to delivering positive outcomes to people in its local community that includes:

• A supply chain spend of £110 million with more than 300 businesses within a 25-mile radius of the airport in 2024, amounting to 60% of all suppliers
• Donating over £180,000 through the LLA Community Trust Fund and Greener Future Fund, benefitting over 19,000 people in 2024

Hannah Marshall, Corporate Partnerships Manager, National Literacy Trust, said: “Partnering with London Luton Airport this year has been truly inspiring. The Golf Day was nothing short of brilliant – flawlessly organised and full of energy, generosity and community spirit. The Runway Run was also another huge success – a standout event for airport staff, filled with stunning sunrise views and incredible energy. Together, these events are helping us reach even more children, teenagers and families across the UK. Literacy changes everything - it opens doors to brighter futures, better opportunities and stronger communities. We’re excited to see what we can achieve together next.”

Aimee Djengiz, Chief Executive Officer at Tokko Youth Hub, commented: “Our deepest appreciation goes out to all the amazing participants and sponsors who contributed to these unforgettable fundraising events. The funds raised will directly support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds engage with projects that develop their employability skills; helping break down the barriers to inclusion.”

Earlier this year, LLA joined the Luton Anchors’ Framework, an initiative designed to bring together institutions across Luton, using their collective influence and resource to increase local wealth, and wellbeing. LLA pledged to amplify its already substantial contribution to the Framework’s four key areas: employment, procurement, environmental sustainability and community and partnership.  

-Ends- 

Notes to Editors

* Luton Council’s Luton 2040 vision was developed in response to Luton’s independent Inclusive Growth Commission, which released its final report in 2019. This report outlined the 12 ambitions for the town based on the unique opportunities and most pressing challenges. In particular, the report identified overcoming poverty and inequality as a central mission that could enable everyone in Luton to thrive sector and key sectors within our economy such as manufacturing, digital and green industries.

Ticket proceeds from a recent ‘Meet the Buyer’ networking event, hosted in LLA’s Excellence Academy to more than 50 local businesses, also contributed to this overall total while also enabling local suppliers and business groups to explore the airport’s tendering opportunities and procedures.

Previous charity partnerships with Luton Foodbank and East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) ended in December 2024 after a four-year tenure raised over £300,000 in vital funding. Fundraising activities included sponsored skydives, golf days, long-distance bike rides in Sicily and Ireland, and football tournaments, among other hugely successful initiatives.  

About London Luton Airport

London Luton Airport (LLA) is one of the UK’s busiest airports, carrying over 16.7 million passengers in 2024. The airport is operated by a consortium, of which the majority shareholder is AENA, the world’s largest airport operator, and InfraBridge, a leading infrastructure investment manager. Airlines include Jet2, easyJet, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Tui, FlyOne, Sun Express and El Al.

The airport is owned for community benefit by Luton Rising, a company wholly-owned by Luton Council, which has invested more than £500m in front-line, voluntary and charitable services since 1998.

The Luton Airport Express is a new dedicated train service that allows passengers to travel from central London to the LLA terminal in around 30 minutes. The Luton Airport Express runs from St Pancras International to Luton Airport Parkway station and connects seamlessly with the DART, an electrically powered people mover that connects to the airport terminal in less than four minutes.

In 2024, LLA was named European Airport of the Year (10-25 million passengers) by ACI EUROPE, and in 2025 LLA received the highest possible rating of 'Very Good' in the annual Airport Accessibility report published by the CAA, assessing assisted travel service performance.

Last year, LLA also became only the third major UK airport to achieve Level 4 of the globally recognised Airport Carbon Accreditation scheme, demonstrating that it is ‘transforming its operations to achieve carbon reductions in line with global climate goals’. With a maximum score of 100 and a five-star rating, LLA has been ranked as a sector leader for two consecutive years in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) benchmark of sustainability governance management and performance of major infrastructure assets worldwide.

LLA continues to be major employer and a key economic driver in Bedfordshire — supporting 28,000 jobs and contributing £830 million per year to the local economy. In 2024, LLA spent 60% of its supply chain costs with more than 300 businesses within a 25-mile radius of the airport, totalling £110 million.

To learn about the progress London Luton Airport is making across its sustainability programme please click here.

Further information on London Luton Airport can be found here: https://www.london-luton.co.uk/

Contact Details:

London Luton Airport Press Office
T: 01582 395333
E: pressoffice@ltn.aero

London Luton Airport – PR agency:
E: LLA@tinmancomms.com

URL: https://mediahub.london-luton.co.uk/news/14082025/a-flying-start-for-new-lla-charity-partners