East Midlands Airport Parking
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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 30 mile radius of the airfield. East Midlands Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P520) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Contents [hide] * 1 History * 2 Identity * 3 Transportation * 4 Trivia * 5 Airlines and destinations o 5.1 Scheduled operators o 5.2 Charter operators * 6 Air freight * 7 Accidents * 8 Aeropark * 9 External links [edit] History The runway at East Midlands Airport Enlarge The runway at East Midlands Airport The airport was originally a Royal Air Force station, RAF Castle Donington, which was decommissioned and purchased by a consortium of local government authorities in the early 1960s who renamed it East Midlands Airport to reflect the area it served. Effectively, it replaced the smaller Derby Airport at Burnaston, which was 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 5,850ft runway, 60ft taxiway, 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 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 passed through 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 8 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, in March 2001 to Manchester Airport Group for £241m. The arrival of low fares "no-frills" carriers in 2001 resulted in a sharp jump in passenger numbers, rising 7% in a year to 2.38m passengers annually. Go Fly established a hub at East Midlands, which has been retained and strengthened since the airline's absorption by easyJet, and the majority of bmi operations were ceded to a new low cost subsidiary, bmibaby, in 2002. [edit] 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 a 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". Whilst this name recognition issue can still be disputed, official figures speak for themselves in proving that the airport has seen a significant increase in inbound passengers since the name change. A BBC report on October 18th 2006 suggested that the airport may change its name once again [1] and the change, to East Midlands Airport: Nottingham, Leicester, Derby came into effect on 8 December 2006 [2]. [edit] Transportation 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 Airline Shuttle service links the airport directly to Loughborough railway station and Derby. Skylink branded services also operate to Nottingham and Leicester. The train operator Midland Mainline is building a new railway station East Midlands Parkway closer to the airport, to which it will be linked by shuttle bus. [edit] Trivia 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 the majority of freight operations take place at night and thus are intrusive. The airport lies just east of Donington Park, the venue of the Formula One Grand Prix of Europe 1993. Aircraft taking off heading west fly directly over the circuit, as can be seen from this map. [edit] Airlines and destinations 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 the First Choice Airways. First Choice will further expand their long haul programme from EMA by launching flights to Cuba (Varadero) in May 2007. Airtours will also offer flights to Mombasa, Kenya with MyTravel Airways in 2007. [edit] Scheduled operators * bmi (Brussels) o bmibaby (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Jersey, Málaga, Palma, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague) * British Airways o British Airways operated by GB Airways (Tenerife-South) * Eastern Airways (Aberdeen) * easyJet (Alicante, Cologne/Bonn, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza [Starts July 2007] [Seasonal], Málaga, Prague, Rome-Ciampino, Venice) * Ryanair (Alghero [starts February 19, 2007], Bergerac, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bratislava [Starts February 26, 2007], Carcassonne, Derry, Dinard, Dublin, Girona, Granada [Starts February 20, 2007], Inverness [Starts February 26, 2007], Knock [starts February 27, 2007], Krakow [starts February 20, 2007], Limoges, Lódz, Milan-Bergamo [starts February 12, 2007], Murcia, Nantes, Nîmes, Pisa [starts February 13, 2007], Rimini [Starts March 27, 2007], Rome-Ciampino, Santiago de Compostela [starts February 27, 2007], Shannon, Valencia [starts February 19, 2007], Wroclaw) [edit] Charter operators In addition to the scheduled services listed above, a number of holiday companies operate exclusive charter flights from East Midlands to a wide range of popular holiday destinations in France, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Long haul charter flights now serve North America, the Caribbean, Mexico and Africa. A significant percentage of flights out of East Midlands are operated by charter airlines. Charter airlines who regularly fly to East Midlands include: * First Choice Airways * MyTravel Airways * Thomas Cook Airlines * Thomsonfly [edit] Air freight East Midlands Airport is the largest pure freight airport in the United Kingdom and has over taken London Heathrow in terms of freight transported due to the new Cargo bases, and number of planes carrying belly-freight. DHL Aviation have a purpose built facility on site, 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. [edit] Accidents On January 8, 1989, British Midland flight BD092 crashed on approach to East Midlands Airport, killing 47 people. The aircraft had developed a fire in one of the engines en route from Heathrow to Belfast. Though the 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. Miraculously, 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 Kegworth air disaster, as the incident became known, would lead to considerable improvements in aircraft safety and emergency instructions for passengers. The official report into the disaster made 31 safety recommendations. [edit] 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, 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), and a Vampire under restoration. An HS Dominie, Avro 748 and Vickers Viscount may be purchased. Aeropark at East Midlands Airport. Photo T.A.Fitchett. Enlarge Aeropark at East Midlands Airport. Photo T.A.Fitchett. 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.
