East Midlands Airport

East Midlands Airport
IATA: EMA – ICAO: EGNX
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Manchester Airports Group
Serves	Nottingham, Leicester and Derby
Location	Castle Donington, Leicestershire, UK
Hub for	DHL Air UK
Elevation AMSL	306 ft / 93 m
Coordinates	52°49′52″N 001°19′40″W / 52.83111°N 1.32778°WCoordinates: 52°49′52″N 001°19′40″W / 52.83111°N 1.32778°W
Website	eastmidlandsairport.com
Map
EGNX Location in Leicestershire
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 2,893 9,491 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 4,450,862 Passenger change 14-15 1.3% Aircraft movements 77,053 Movements change 14-15 0.4%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

East Midlands Airport (IATA: EMA, ICAO: EGNX) is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, located in Leicestershire close to Castle Donington. It lies between the cities of Derby (14 miles (23 km)), Nottingham (15 miles (24 km)) and Leicester (18 miles (29 km)).

EMA has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P520) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. East Midlands Airport has established itself as a hub for low fare airlines such as Jet2.com and Ryanair and tour operators like Thomson Airways which serve a range of domestic and European short-haul destinations. It is also a base for BMI Regional, Flybe, and Thomas Cook Airlines. Passenger numbers peaked in 2008 at 5.6 million, but had declined to around 4.5 million in 2015 making it the 11th busiest airport in the UK by passenger traffic. A major air cargo hub, it was the second busiest UK airport for freight traffic in 2015 after London Heathrow.^[2]

The airport is owned by the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the largest British-owned airport operator which is controlled by the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester with Manchester retaining the controlling stake.^[3]

History

Britannia Airways Boeing 737 operating holiday charters in 1982

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.^[4]

Until 1982, when the head office moved to Donington Hall,^[5] British Midland had its head office on the airport property.^[6] BMI also had its maintenance base at the airport.

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.

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. Following increasing overcrowding at the terminal building, the airport facilities have been extended and remodelled. There are new short-stay car parks, but there are charges for drop-off outside the terminals. The arrivals hall has been extended, a new transport interchange has been created, and a new pier has been built to reduce 'across tarmac' walking to aircraft.

EasyJet ceased operating from the airport on 5 January 2010.^[7] However, it was announced on 13 April 2011 that Bmibaby would close its Manchester and Cardiff bases, moving an additional service to East Midlands Airport with increased frequencies and new routes for summer 2012. It was announced only just over a year later, on 3 May 2012, that Bmibaby would be closed down and cease all operations in September 2012 with a number of services being dropped from June. The parent company, International Airlines Group, cited heavy losses and the failure to find a suitable buyer as the reasons for the decision.^[8] In light of the announcement, Flybe and Monarch Airlines announced they would establish a base at the airport, and low-cost airline Jet2.com confirmed they would also expand their operations from the airport with new routes and an additional aircraft from Summer 2013. Monarch Airlines shut down its base at East Midlands as well by spring 2015. Ryanair expanded its East Midlands base with a series of new routes and frequency increases on existing routes. They now serve the airport with 7 based aircraft, 40 destinations, over 320 weekly flights and roughly 2.3 million passengers a year , making it the largest airline at the airport, accounting for about 50% of passenger traffic with East Midlands now being Ryanair's third largest UK airport after London-Stansted and Manchester, both now also owned by MAG.

In 2012 Heathrow handled 1.56 million tonnes of freight & mail compared with 300,000 tonnes at East Midlands.^[2] DHL Aviation have a large purpose-built facility at EMA, and courier companies United Parcel Service (UPS) and TNT also use the airport as a base to import/export freight to Belfast and Liege. Since July 2013, Thomson Airways operates with their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft out of East Midlands, serving long haul holiday destinations such as Orlando or Cancun.^[9]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from East Midlands Airport:^[10]

Airlines	Destinations
Aurigny	Guernsey (suspended; resumes 20 December 2016)[11]
BH Air	Seasonal charter: Burgas
BMI Regional	Brussels
Eastern Airways	Aberdeen, Newcastle upon Tyne
Flybe	Amsterdam, Belfast-City, Edinburgh, Glasgow Seasonal: Jersey
Jet2.com	Alicante, Budapest, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Madeira, Málaga, Paris-Charles de Gaulle (begins 30 March 2017),[12] Prague, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Almeria (begins 2 May 2017), Antalya, Bodrum, Chambéry, Cephalonia, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Girona (begins 28 April 2017), Grenoble (begins 23 December 2016),[13] Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Larnaca, Malta, Menorca, Murcia, Naples (begins 2 May 2017), Newark, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pisa, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg (begins 23 December 2016),[14] Split (begins 30 April 2017), Thessaloniki (begins 25 May 2017),[15] Zakynthos
Ryanair	Alicante, Bergamo, Berlin-Schönefeld, Budapest (begins 27 March 2017),[16] Dublin, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Knock, Kraków, Lanzarote, Limoges, Łódź, Malaga, Malta, Naples (begins 2 May 2017),[17] Riga, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszów, Tenerife-South, Treviso, Warsaw-Modlin, Wrocław Seasonal: Barcelona, Bergerac, Carcassonne, Chania, Corfu, Dinard, Girona (begins 26 March 2017),[18] Ibiza, La Rochelle,[19] Minorca, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Reus (begins 27 March 2017),[16] Rhodes, Valencia
Small Planet Airlines	Seasonal charter: Ivalo
Thomas Cook Airlines	Enfidha, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Antalya, Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Ibiza, Larnaca, Minorca, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rhodes, Rovaniemi, Skiathos, Zakynthos
Thomson Airways	Alicante, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm el-Sheikh (resumes 2 November 2017),[20] Tenerife-South Seasonal: Antalya, Boa Vista, Bodrum, Barbados, Burgas, Cancún, Chambéry, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Enfidha, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Minorca, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pula, Reykjavík-Keflavík (begins 25 January 2017), Rhodes, Salzburg, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Zakynthos

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
ASL Airlines Belgium	Belfast-International, Liège
Atlantic Airlines	Jersey, Basel/Mulhouse
DHL Aviation operated by AeroLogic	Leipzig/Halle, Frankfurt, Hong Kong
DHL Aviation operated by ASL Airlines Hungary	Dublin, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Shannon
DHL Aviation operated by ASL Airlines Ireland	Leipzig/Halle, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Shannon
DHL Aviation operated by DHL Air UK	Amsterdam, Belfast-International, Bergamo, Brussels-International, Cincinnati, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Leipzig/Halle, London Heathrow, Madrid, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Shannon, Vitoria
DHL Aviation operated by Kalitta Air	Cincinnati
DHL Air UK operated by Atlantic Airlines	Aberdeen, Cologne/Bonn
DHL Aviation operated by Southern Air	Leipzig/Halle
DHL Air UK operated by Swiftair	Bergamo, Vitoria, Cologne/Bonn
Etihad Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Frankfurt-Hahn[21]
Icelandair Cargo	Liège, Reykjavík-Keflavík
Royal Mail operated by West Atlantic	Aberdeen, Belfast-International, Cardiff, Isle of Man, Edinburgh, Bournemouth, Guernsey
Royal Mail operated by Jet2.com	Belfast-International, Edinburgh, Exeter, Newcastle upon Tyne
Royal Mail operated by Loganair	Aberdeen, Edinburgh
Royal Mail operated by Titan Airways	Bournemouth
RVL Aviation	Dublin, Guernsey, Isle of Man
UPS Airlines	Cologne/Bonn, Louisville, Philadelphia
UPS Airlines operated by Star Air (Maersk)	Cologne/Bonn, Belfast-International, Edinburgh
Woodgate Aviation	Dublin

Statistics

The air traffic control tower at East Midlands airport, located at the south of the airfield, next to the terminal.

The terminal buildings as they appear today.

The check-in hall at the airport.

Busiest routes to and from East Midlands Airport (2014)^[22][23]

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2013 to 14
1	Alicante	394,894	9
2	Palma de Mallorca	344,996	3
3	Málaga	328,804	6
4	Tenerife South	282,907	23
5	Faro	253,471	4
6	Arrecife de Lanzarote	187,801	27
7	Ibiza	116,727	7
8	Dublin	115,728	36
9	Edinburgh	92,683	7
10	Glasgow	91,901	7
11	Murcia San Javier	90,707
12	Fuerteventura	89,333	10
13	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	79,486	10
14	Wrocław	77,795	2
15	Dalaman	73,459
16	Mahon de Minorca	73,387	4
17	Barcelona	70,647
18	Enfidha	68,788	1
19	Paphos	65.810	2
20	Corfu	56,863	18

Ground transport

Motorway

East Midlands Parkway railway station.

The airport has excellent connections to the motorway network as it is near the M1, M42 and A50, bringing the airfield within easy reach of the major population centres of the Midlands. The airport introduced a charge of £1 to drop car passengers near the departure lounge in 2010. In May 2016, the charge was doubled to £2, with any stay in the area above ten minutes being charged at £1 per minute.^[24]

Railway

The nearest railway station is East Midlands Parkway, which is 4 miles (6.4 km) away. The original shuttle bus service linking the station and the airport had ceased not long after it was introduced,^[25] but in 2015 an hourly minibus service was re-introduced by Elite Cars, restoring scheduled shuttle services to and from the airport.^[26] Connections to the airport via taxi are also available.

Although very much still in the initial stages of planning, a proposed route for the High Speed 2 rail line from London Euston to the north of England via Birmingham could bring the Leeds branch very close to East Midlands Airport with proposals for a station to serve the airport and the Nottingham and Derby catchment areas.^[27]

Bus

There are frequent Skylink services operated by Kinchbus and Trent Barton. Kinchbus run buses from Leicester to Derby via Loughborough and Trent Barton operate a route from Nottingham to Loughborough via Beeston and Long Eaton. Both services operate every 20 minutes during the day and hourly throughout the night, seven days a week. Skylink Express, also operated by Trent Barton, started operating on 31 January 2016. This service runs via the A453 road into Nottingham, serving the Clifton South Park & Ride tram stop, Nottingham Trent University and West Bridgford.^[28][29]

East Midlands Aeropark

The Aeropark at East Midlands Airport

The East Midlands Aeropark to the north west corner of the airport has a large number of static aircraft on public display. The museum and its exhibits are managed and maintained by the Aeropark Volunteers Association (AVA). It also offers two viewing mounds for watching aircraft arriving and departing from the main runway. AVA Members are allowed free access to the Aeropark. Exhibits include:

• Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy
• BAe Nimrod R1 XW664
• Avro Vulcan B.2A XM575
• Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B XV350
• Britten Sheriff SA.1 G-FRJB
• de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 WP784
• de Havilland Dove 6 G-ANUW
• de Havilland Vampire T.11 XD447, T.11 XD459 (offsite), T.11 XD534 (nose pod)
• de Havilland Sea Venom FAW.22 XG737
• English Electric Canberra T.17 WH740
• English Electric Lightning F.53 ZF588
• Gloster Meteor TT.20 WM224, NF.13 WM367 (nose), NF.14 WS760 (offsite)
• Hawker Hunter T.7 XL569, GA.11 WV382, FR.10 XJ714 (composite of six airframes)
• Hunting Jet Provost T.4 XP568, T.3 XN492 (nose)
• Morane-Saulnier MS.880 Rallye G-BBED
• Percival Provost T.1 WW442
• Schleicher Ka-8 glider, registration unknown
• Vickers Vanguard V953C G-APES (nose)
• Vickers Varsity T.1 WL626
• Vickers VC-10 C.1K XV108 (forward fuselage)
• Vickers Viscount 807 G-CSZB (nose)
• Westland Gazelle AH.1 XX457
• Westland Lynx HAS.3 XZ721
• Westland Sikorsky Whirlwind Srs.3 XG588 (ex VR-BEP)
• Westland Wessex HC.2 XT604

Accidents and incidents

• On 20 February 1969, Vickers Viscount G-AODG of British Midland Airways was damaged beyond economic repair when it landed short of the runway. There were no casualties.^[30]
• On 31 January 1986, Aer Lingus Flight 328, a Short 360, en route from Dublin, struck power lines and crashed short of the runway. None of the 36 passengers and crew died but two passengers were injured in the accident.^[31]
• On 18 January 1987, Fokker F-27 G-BMAU of British Midland Airways crashed on approach to the airport on a training flight with three crew. None was killed or injured.^[32]
• On 8 January 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.
• On 29 October 2010, in the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot, British police searched a UPS plane at East Midlands Airport but found nothing.^[33] Later that day, when a package was found on a plane in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, British officials searched again and found a bomb.^[34][35] The two packages, found on two planes originating in Yemen, contained the powerful high explosive PETN. The U.K. and the U.S. determined that the plan was to detonate them while in flight. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took responsibility.^[36]
• On 29 April 2014 An Air Contractors Boeing 737-400 freighter, registration EI-STD performing freight flight QY-1748 from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to East Midlands with 2 crew and 10 tonnes of freight, had safely landed on East Midland's runway 27 and slowed to taxi speed. While attempting to turn off the runway parts of the left main landing gear collapsed disabling the aircraft on the runway. There were no injuries but the runway needed to be closed for most of the day.^[37]
• On 14 January 2016, an RVL Aviation Cessna 402 declared an emergency and crash landed with three crew on board, two of whom were students. The aircraft landed safely on East Midlands' runway 27, but the port-side gear pin had snapped resulting to the gear folding up whilst on the ground, and subsequently damaging the propellers and engine. There were no injuries, however the airfield remained closed for two hours.^[38]

References

1. "East Midlands – EGNX". Nats-uk.ead-it.com. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
2. "Aircraft and passenger traffic data from UK airports". UK Civil Aviation Authority. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
3. "AGMA to consider Manchester Airport restructure in takeover bid". Manchester Evening News. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
4. "Our History". East Midlands Airport. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
5. "the eighties." British Midland International. Retrieved on 28 December 2011.
6. "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 26 July 1980. 295. "Head Office: East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Derby, Great Britain. 37172."
7. "easyJet announces network redeployments". EasyJet. 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2009.
8. "BMI Baby to be grounded by BA owner IAG". BBC. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2016. BMI Baby has delivered high levels of operational performance and customer service, but has continued to struggle financially, losing more than £100m in the last four years,
9. "Thomson's first long haul 787 Dreamliner from East Midlands Airport takes flight". Thomson. East Midlands is now one of only four UK airports to currently operate the revolutionary Thomson 787 Dreamliner aircraft – along with London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow airports. Thomson Airways will fly the state-of-the-art aircraft from the East Midlands on long haul routes to Sanford, Florida and Cancun in Mexico.
10. eastmidlandsairport.com - Flight Timetables retrieved 5 October 2016
11. "Flight Disruption". Aurigny Air Services. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
12. "Jet2.com and Jet2holidays Launch Summer 17 in East Midlands". Jet2.com. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
13. "Jet2.com Expands Grenoble Operations from Dec 2016". airlineroute. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
14. "Jet2.com Plans New Routes in W16". Routesonline. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
15. "Destinations". Jet2.com. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
16. http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/269427/ryanair-expands-s17-east-midlands-service/
17. http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/270183/ryanair-launches-naples-base-in-s17/
18. "Ryanair expands Girona base operations in S17". Routesonline. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
19. "Ryanair Flight Timetable". Ryanair. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
20. http://www.thomson.co.uk/flight/timetable
21. "Etihad Cargo Winter 2016 Flight Schedule" (PDF). Etihad Cargo. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
22. "International Air Passenger Traffic To and From Reporting Airports for 2014 Comparison with the Previous Year" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom). 27 May 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
23. "Domestic Air Passenger Traffic To and From Reporting Airports for 2014 Comparison with the Previous Year" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom). 26 May 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
24. "East Midlands Airport 'drop-off' charges double". Retrieved 5 May 2016.
25. "Train services to and from East Midlands Parkway – East Midlands Trains". East Midlands Trains. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
26. "EMA Rail Link". Retrieved 16 August 2015.
27. "High level Assessment of the wider network options - Reverse 'S' and 'Y' network" (PDF). HS2. n.d. paragraph 4.26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2010.
28. "Skylink". Skylink. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
29. "Skylink Derby". Kinchbus. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
30. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
31. "ASN Aircraft accident Shorts 360-100 EI-BEM East Midlands Airport (EMA)". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
32. "ASN Aircraft accident Fokker F-27 Friendship 200 G-BMAU East Midlands Airport (EMA)". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
33. "Terrorist Bombers May Have Targeted Aircraft". Fox News Channel. 7 April 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
34. "How many more bombs out there?: Device found in Dubai had been on two PASSENGER flights, airline reveals". Daily Mail. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
35. Rayner, Gordon (31 October 2010). "Cargo plane bomb plot: al-Qaeda terrorists 'threatened another Lockerbie'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
36. "Al-Qaida claims responsibility for cargo bombs". MSNBC. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
37. http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/flights-suspended-east-midlands-airport-plane/story-21027798-detail/story.html
38. http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/east-midlands-airport-incident/story-28528729-detail/story.html

External links

Media related to East Midlands Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• East Midlands Aeropark – official museum website
• Donair Flying Club – official flying club website