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East Midlands Airport

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East Midlands Airport
File:East Midlands Airport logo.gif
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorManchester Airports Group
ServesEast Midlands
LocationCastle Donington
Elevation AMSL306 ft / 93 m
Coordinates52°49′52″N 001°19′41″W / 52.83111°N 1.32806°W / 52.83111; -1.32806
Websitewww.eastmidlandsairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,893 9,491 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Passengers5,414,299
Source: UK AIP at NATS

East Midlands Airport (IATA: EMA, ICAO: EGNX) is an airport in the East Midlands of England, near Castle Donington in Leicestershire. It lies between the cities of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham, all within a 20 mile radius of the airfield. It serves primarily as an airport for the local inhabitants of the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, and also South Yorkshire due to its proximity to the M1, although there is now a smaller airport, Doncaster Sheffield Airport located at Finningley. Passenger numbers reached a record of 5,414,299 in 2007, up 14.5% from 2006. [1]

The airport is owned by the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) which is controlled by the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester and is the largest UK-owned airport group.

EMA has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P520) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. EMA is the largest unrestricted airport in the UK, while at the same time being the second largest freight airport. This is an important point for local residents, since many freight operations take place at night, and many discussion points have been raised recently by residents who do not wish for passenger night services to increase.

History

The runway at East Midlands Airport

The airport was originally a Royal Air Force station, RAF Castle Donington, which was decommissioned in 1946. The site was purchased by a consortium of local government authorities in 1964, when a major programme of building work and runway investment was begun. The airfield was renamed East Midlands Airport to reflect the area it served, and it opened for passengers in April 1965.

Effectively, EMA replaced the smaller pre-war Derby Airport at Burnaston, and the base's light aircraft later moved to a new site near Marston on Dove. The original Derby Airport site at Burnaston has since been redeveloped into a Toyota car factory.

Derby Airways, which was in the process of being renamed British Midland Airways, moved its operations to the new airport and established its headquarters in nearby Castle Donington, creating a network of domestic and international scheduled and charter flights at East Midlands. The airfield was established with basic requirements of a 5,850 ft runway, a 60 ft taxiway, a new hangar floor and aprons and parking for 850 cars. Financially, it was not an instant success. However the picture quickly changed with the increased volume of freight traffic, soon demanding further development. In 1970, an agreement was reached on creating a new freight complex and both the runway and the terminal were extended.

Expansion was swift, with a further runway extension and terminal upgrade in the late 1970s. During 1985, one million passengers utilized the airport for the first time, calling for yet another terminal extension. Following government legislation, the airport became a public limited company in 1987, distancing it from all-out control of the local authorities.

With growing passenger and freight traffic, further expansion was proposed for East Midlands in 1992. However, despite the enthusiasm of the local authorities who owned the airport, the funds necessary were not raised, so in 1993 East Midlands became the first major regional airport in the UK to be privatised. National Express Group successfully purchased the airfield for £24.3m and began their investment into the airport facilities. A £20m, 600m extension to the runway was added to allow EMA to handle long haul flights, and a new air traffic control tower was constructed, the second tallest in the UK. National Express investment would eventually total over £77m over an eight year period.

DHL Aviation opened a new £35m cargo facility on site in 2000, and in the same year a business park was constructed next to the airport. However, National Express Group announced its intention to concentrate on bus and rail provision, and sold East Midlands Airport, together with Bournemouth Airport and Humberside Airport, in March 2001 to Manchester Airports Group for £241m.

The arrival of low fares "no frills" carriers in 2002 resulted in a sharp jump in passenger numbers, rising 36% in that year to 3.23 million. Go Fly established a hub at East Midlands, and the operation has been strengthened since the airline's absorption by easyJet. The majority of bmi operations were ceded to a new low cost subsidiary, bmibaby, in 2002.

By 2006, annual passengers had reached 4.72 million, twelfth highest in the UK. The five-million mark was passed during April 2007 (per official statistics issued by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority).

Following increasing overcrowding of the terminal building, it has been decided to extend and remodel these facilities. For the summer season 2007, the security checkpoint will be moved allowing for more 'lines' to operate simultaneously. The arrivals hall will extend into the present bus park, and a new transport interchange is being created. Although the amount of space landside has been continually reduced owing to developments in the 2000s, a major extension is being created airside. The airport has an upstairs food hall and bar with views of the runway. This used to be accessible from the landside area of the airport, however since the early 2000s it has only been accessible from the departure lounge. A new pier is being created to reduce 'across tarmac' walking to aircraft. The new developments are said to be environmentally friendly, and include features such as increased natural lighting, and toilets which flush with reclaimed rainwater.

Identity

In a controversial move in 2004, East Midlands Airport was rebranded Nottingham East Midlands Airport, despite lying in Leicestershire, being in the Derby postal area and the nearest city being Derby. Furthermore, there was already a Nottingham Airport, which is closer to Nottingham, even though it was a small airfield catering to general aviation.

The reasoning behind the name change was that many people from outside the UK and unfamiliar with the country's geography could not identify with the term 'East Midlands' and understandably did not know exactly where in the UK it was. The argument for adding 'Nottingham' to the name was that the city had greater international recognition through its size and historical connections. This assertion was disputed in the BBC's local news programme East Midlands Today which travelled to Amsterdam. Whilst there the BBC reporters asked the Amsterdam residents to identify the location of Nottingham on a map of the UK. The vast majority failed; however, many more Dutch locals had heard of "Nottingham" than "the East Midlands".

A BBC report on October 18 2006 suggested that the airport may change its name once again[2] and the change, to East Midlands Airport: Nottingham, Leicester, Derby came into effect on 8 December 2006[3].

Transportation

Loughborough, currently the closest station with through train tickets available.

The airport has excellent connections to the motorway network due to its proximity to the M1 and M42 motorways, bringing the airfield within easy reach of the major population centres of the Midlands.

Access by train is less easy; the closest railway station is Long Eaton, but the Skylink Derby to Loughborough service links the airport directly to Loughborough railway station and Derby. Skylink branded bus services also operate to and from Nottingham and Leicester, however they are not solely dedicated to airport customers and will take on and let down other passengers en route. The railway network owner Network Rail is building a new railway station East Midlands Parkway closer to the airport, to which it will be linked by shuttle bus and is due to open in 2008/09.

Airlines at the Airport

East Midlands Airport has established itself as a hub for low fare airlines easyJet, bmibaby and Ryanair, and serves a range of domestic and European short haul destinations. A major development towards the long haul programme came in 2005 with the introduction of holiday flights to the Dominican Republic, Orlando, and Cancún by First Choice Airways.


Airlines and destinations

Scheduled Airlines

  • bmi
  • bmibaby (Alicante, Almeria [begins 29 March], Amsterdam, Belfast-International, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva [seasonal], Glasgow-International, Jersey, Málaga, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Warsaw)
  • Eastern Airways (Aberdeen)
  • easyJet (Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Prague, Venice)
  • Ryanair (Alghero, Alicante, Bergerac, Belfast-City, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bratislava, Budapest, Carcassonne, Cork [ending soon], Derry, Dinard, Dublin, Faro [begins 28 October], Fuerteventura [begins 28 October], Girona, Granada, Grenoble-Lyon, Inverness, Krakow, Knock, Limoges, Łódź, Málaga, Madrid, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia, Nantes, Nîmes, Paris-Beauvais [begins 28 October], Pisa, Poznan, Prague [begins 26 October], Riga, Rimini, Rome-Ciampino, Salzburg, Shannon [ending soon], Tenerife-South, Turin [begins 20 December], Valencia, Wrocław)
  • Sterling Airlines (Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda)

Charter Airlines

  • Air Malta (Malta)
  • First Choice Airways (Arrecife, Bodrum, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Goa, Heraklion, Ibiza, Larnaca, Málaga, Mahon, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Puerto Plata, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
  • Thomas Cook Airlines (Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Ibiza, Izmir, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malta, Monastir, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Rhodes, Paphos, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
  • Thomsonfly (Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Bourgas, Corfu, Cancun (2009) Dalaman, Faro, Heraklion, Ibiza, Larnaca, Las Palmas, La Palma, Mahon, Málaga, Monastir, Orlando-Sanford (2009) Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Sharm el-Sheikh, Zakynthos)

Scheduled cargo airlines

Ad hoc cargo airlines

Air freight

East Midlands Airport is the second largest freight airport in the United Kingdom after London Heathrow. In 2006 Heathrow handled 1.34 million tons of cargo and mail and EMA handled 298,000 tons. In terms of cargo transported in pure freight aircraft, EMA with 272,000 tons was ahead of Heathrow, but over 1 million tons of freight are carried in passenger aircraft holds to/from Heathrow. (Per official statistics issued by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority). DHL Aviation have a large purpose built facility at EMA, and courier companies UPS and TNT also use the airport as a base. Lufthansa Cargo is also a regular user of East Midlands, and the airport is a primary hub for Royal Mail.

Accidents and incidents

  • On January 8, 1989, British Midland Flight BD092 crashed on approach to East Midlands Airport, killing 47 people. The Boeing 737 aircraft had developed a fan blade failure in one of the two engines while en route from London Heathrow to Belfast and a decision was made to divert to East Midlands. The crew mistakenly shut down the functioning engine, causing the aircraft to lose power and crash on the embankment of the M1 Motorway just short of the runway. No one on the ground was injured despite the aircraft crashing on the embankment of one of the busiest sections of motorway in the UK. The investigation into the Kegworth air disaster, as the incident became known, led to considerable improvements in aircraft safety and emergency instructions for passengers. The official report into the disaster made 31 safety recommendations.

Aeropark

The Aeropark to the north west corner of the airport has a number of static aircraft on display, including EE Lightning F.Mk53 ZF588, Avro Vulcan B2a XM 575, Argosy 101G BEOZ, EE Canberra T.17 WH740, EE Canberra PR.7 WH779 (nose)Hawker Hunter T.7 XL569, HS Buccaneer S 2B XV350, Westland Whirlwind XG588, Westland Wessex HAS.1 XS876, Westland Wessex HC.2 XT604, Westland Wessex HU.5 XT480, Vickers Varsity WL626, Gloster Meteor TT20 WM224, Supermarine Spitfire Mk IV PL256 (Replica), Vickers Viscount 807 G-CSZB (Cockpit), Vickers Vanguard V953c G-APES (Cockpit), Britten Sheriff G-FRJB, and 2 Vampire under restoration. An HS Dominie, Avro 748 and Vickers Viscount may be purchased.

Aeropark at East Midlands Airport.

It also offers an excellent viewing mound for aircraft arriving and departing from the main runway. The Aeropark and its exhibits are managed and maintained by the Aeropark Volunteers Association (AVA). Members are allowed free access to the Aeropark.

References

  1. ^ [1] East Midlands Airport website - 06 Feb 08]
  2. ^ BBC News - "Airport to consider name change"
  3. ^ BBC News - "Airport announces change to name"
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