East Midlands Airport

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East Midlands Airport Nottingham East Midlands Airport[1] [2] [3]
IATA: EMA - ICAO: EGNX
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Manchester Airport Group
Serves		East Midlands
Elevation AMSL		306 ft (93 m)
Coordinates		52°49′52″N, 01°19′41″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
09/27	9,491	2,893	Asphalt

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 1 History 2 Identity 3 Transportation 4 Trivia 5 Airlines and destinations 5.1 Scheduled operators 5.2 Charter operators 6 Air freight 7 Accidents 8 Aeropark 9 External links 10 References

[edit] History

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 program 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 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 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. (per official statistics issued by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority).

[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".

A BBC report on October 18, 2006 suggested that the airport may change its name once again^[4] and the change, to East Midlands Airport: Nottingham, Leicester, Derby came into effect on 8 December 2006^[5]. However, as of the end of January 2007 the UK Aeronautical Information Publication, (a document used by the International Civil Aviation Organization and pilots worldwide) as published by National Air Traffic Services (a Public-private partnership of several airlines and the Government of the United Kingdom), was still listing the airport as "Nottingham East Midlands".^{[1] [3] [6]}

[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 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.

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
  • bmi regional (Brussels)
  • bmibaby (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast-International, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Jersey, Málaga, Palma, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague)
• British Airways
  • 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, Bergerac, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bratislava, Carcassonne, Derry, Dinard, Dublin, Girona, Granada, Inverness, Knock, Krakow, Limoges, Łódź, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia, Nantes, Nîmes, Pisa, Rimini, Rome-Ciampino, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Valencia, Wrocław)

[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
• XL Airways

[edit] Air freight

East Midlands Airport is the second largest freight airport in the United Kingdom after London Heathrow. In 2005 Heathrow handled 1.31 million tons of cargo and EMA handled 266,000 tons. In terms of cargo transported in pure freight aircraft, EMA with 266,000 tons was ahead of Heathrow's 235,000 tons, 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.

[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 Boeing 737s two engines en route from Heathrow to Belfast and a decision was made to divert to East Midlands. Unfortunately, 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, 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.

[edit] External links

• East Midlands Airport
• East Midlands Parkway project: Architects Website
• Guardian article on the renaming controversy
• BBC page detailing the Kegworth air crash in 1989

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} UK Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) - "UK AIP, Aerodrome Chart 2-EGNX-2-1 31 August 2006" (free registration required)
2. ^ East Midlands/Birmingham 04 Aug 06
3. ^ ^{a b} "UK AIP, Aerodrome Text Data 2-EGNX-1-1 16 March 2006" from the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (free registration required)
4. ^ BBC News - "Airport to consider name change"
5. ^ BBC News - "Airport announces change to name"
6. ^ North & Scotland frequency reference card 11 May 06