East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, close to

Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. History The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another sugge ...

in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (),

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

() and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

(); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () northeast. It serves the whole East Midlands region of Leicestershire,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

, Rutland and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. The airfield was originally built as a Royal Air Force station known as RAF Castle Donington in 1943, before being redeveloped as a civilian airport in 1965. East Midlands Airport has established itself as a hub for low-fare airlines such as

Jet2.com Jet2.com Limited is a British low-cost leisure airline offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is the third-largest scheduled airline in the UK, behind EasyJet and British Airways. Jet2 is also official ...

and Ryanair and tour operators like

TUI Airways TUI Airways Limited (formerly Thomsonfly and Thomson Airways) is a British charter airline, offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The airline is t ...

, which serve a range of domestic and European short-haul destinations. Passenger numbers peaked in 2008 at 5.6 million but declined to around 4.5 million in 2015, making it the 11th-busiest airport in the UK by passenger traffic. A central air cargo hub, it was the second-busiest UK airport for freight traffic in 2016, after London Heathrow. The airport is owned by the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the largest British-owned airport operator, which is controlled by the ten metropolitan borough councils of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, with Manchester City Council retaining the controlling stake.

History

RAF Castle Donington

RAF Castle Donington was opened as a Royal Air Force station in 1943, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The airfield was equipped with three concrete runways, together with two hangars, and was a satellite airfield to

RAF Wymeswold RAF Wymeswold is a former Royal Air Force station located north-east of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. The airfield is situated between Hoton, Wymeswold and Burton on the Wolds, lying in the current district of Charnwood. History ...

, situated some to the southeast. Initially, the airfield was used by the 28 Operational Training Unit, training RAF Bomber Command crews on the

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

, and subsequently by the 108 Operational Training Unit, later renamed 1382 Transport Conversion Unit, training RAF Transport Command crews on the Douglas Dakota. The airfield closed and the air force station was decommissioned in 1946.

East Midlands Airport

In 1964, the site of the former RAF station was purchased by a consortium of local government authorities, 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. Until 1982, when the head office moved to

Donington Hall Donington Hall is a mansion house set in parkland near Castle Donington village, North West Leicestershire. The Hall and Estate was purchased in April 2021 by MotorSport Vision, which also operates the neighbouring Donington Park racing circui ...

British Midland British Midland Airways Limited (trading at various times throughout its history as British Midland, bmi British Midland, bmi or British Midland International) was an airline with its head office in Donington Hall in Castle Donington, close to ...

had its head office on the airport property. BMI also had its maintenance base at the airport. Go Fly established a hub in East Midlands, and the operation has been strengthened since the airline's absorption by

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate air ...

. The majority of BMI operations were ceded to a new low-cost subsidiary,

bmibaby Bmibaby Limited (styled as bmibaby.com) was a British low-cost airline that flew to destinations in the United Kingdom and Europe from its bases at Birmingham and East Midlands airports. It was a subsidiary of British Midland International, it ...

, in 2002. In 1993 National Express purchased the airport from the local councils. With

Bournemouth Airport Bournemouth Airport (previously known as Hurn Airport and Bournemouth International Airport) is an airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England. The site opened as RAF Hurn in 1941, but was transferred to civil contr ...

, it was sold to Manchester Airports Group in February 2001. In 2004 the airport was controversially renamed Nottingham East Midlands Airport. The change, however, did not last long, and on 8 December 2006, the airport's name was reverted to East Midlands Airport. A major development towards the long-haul programme came in 2005 with the introduction of holiday flights to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, Orlando and Cancún by First Choice Airways. Following increasing overcrowding at the

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devi ...

building, the airport facilities were 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 EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate air ...

ceased operating from the airport on 5 January 2010. However, it was announced on 13 April 2011 that

Bmibaby Bmibaby Limited (styled as bmibaby.com) was a British low-cost airline that flew to destinations in the United Kingdom and Europe from its bases at Birmingham and East Midlands airports. It was a subsidiary of British Midland International, it ...

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 close 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. In light of the announcement, Flybe and Monarch Airlines announced they would establish a base at the airport, and low-cost airline

confirmed they would also expand their operations from the airport, with new routes and an additional aircraft from the summer of 2013. In 2015, the airport announced jet2.com would base a seventh aircraft at East Midlands Airport in the summer period. Monarch Airlines shut down its base in East Midlands as well by the spring of 2015. Ryanair expanded its East Midlands base with a series of new routes and frequency increases on existing routes. It now serves the airport with 9 based aircraft, 41 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 London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, both now also owned by MAG. In 2016 Heathrow handled 1.54 million tonnes of freight and mail, compared with 300,100 tonnes in East Midlands. DHL Aviation has a large purpose-built facility at EMA, and courier companies United Parcel Service (UPS) and TNT use the airport as a base to import and export freight. On 4 March 2020

Flybe Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, is a British airline based at Birmingham Airport, England. History The airline traces its history back to Jersey European Airways, which was set up in 1979 following the merger of Intra Airways and Expre ...

entered administration, with EMA announcing that all flights were cancelled with immediate effect, the following day. In the Summer of 2020,

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiar ...

announced they would commence flights to Belfast, operated by Stobart Air, taking over the route which was once operated by

, until their collapse in early 2020. In June 2021, Stobart Air collapsed, ceasing the route. Later in the month,

announced they would take over the Belfast route, operating frequent flights to Belfast International Airport. This was the first easyJet route announced from East Midlands since they stopped services from the airport in January 2010.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from East Midlands Airport:

Cargo

East Midlands Airport is a major hub for freight operations throughout Europe due to its central location within the United Kingdom. The East Midlands Gateway rail-served inland port lies immediately to the north of the airport. The airport serves as a hub for DHL Aviation and UPS Airlines and sees flights by several of their sub-contractors to domestic, European and intercontinental destinations.

Statistics

East Midlands Airport and the Control Tower - geograph

East Midlands Airport, drop-off bays, Departures and Control Tower - geograph

East Midlands Airport - departure hall - 2

Ground transport

Motorway

Class 222 at East Midlands Parkway railway station in 2009

The airport has excellent connections to the motorway network, as it is near the intersection of the M1, A42 and A50 at Donington Park, bringing the airfield within easy reach of the major population centres of the Midlands. The A46 is also within reach for journeys to the rest of the East Midlands.

Drop-off fees

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. Now for drop off it is £5 for the first 10 minutes and a £1 for every minute after. Drivers needing longer can stay free for one hour in the long-term carpark, a five-minute bus ride from the terminal. The short-term parking is closer but charges £3.50 for 30 minutes.

Railway

The airport has no direct access to the passenger rail network or the Nottingham Express Transit tram network. The nearest railway station is

East Midlands Parkway East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

, away, with regular services to Leicester,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

, Lincoln,

and London St Pancras. The original shuttle bus service linking the station and the airport ceased not long after it was introduced, but in 2015 an hourly minibus service was re-introduced by Elite Cars, restoring scheduled shuttle services to and from the airport. Connections to the airport via taxi are also available. A dedicated railway station at the airport is proposed, which would be connected to the existing network via a spur from the Midland main line. If the project goes ahead, it is expected to be complete by 2040 and will offer direct services to nearby cities as well as the existing East Midlands Parkway railway station and the proposed East Midlands Hub at Toton, which lies on the

High Speed Two High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

route. A new line to the airport on the Nottingham Express Transit network is also proposed, planned to be open by 2045. A 700-acre (280 ha) railfreight terminal, East Midlands Gateway, opened on the SEGRO Logistics Park to the north of the airport in 2020, so that the site is now served by air, road and rail cargo. As of December 2021, this was handling 10,000 shipping containers, with trains to ports including Felixstowe, London Gateway, Southampton and Liverpool.

Bus

East Midlands Airport is served 24/7 by Skylink services which are operated by Kinchbus and trentbarton alongside My15 and Airline9 buses. As of May 2022 the airport is served by the services listed.

East Midlands Aeropark

The East Midlands Aeropark to the north west corner of the airport has a large number of static aircraft on public display, the majority of which are from British manufacturers. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

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: * Aérospatiale Gazelle AH.1 XX457 * Armstrong Whitworth Argosy 101 G-BEOZ * Armstrong Whitworth Meteor TT.20 WM224 * Avro Vulcan B.2 XM575 * BAC Lightning F.53 ZF588 *

BAe Nimrod The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...

R.1 XW664 * Beagle 206 Bassett G-ARRM * Blackburn 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 * de Havilland Vampire T.11 XD534 * de Havilland Sea Venom FAW.22 XG737 *

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...

T.17 WH740 * Gloster Meteor NF.13 WM367 (nose) * Gloster Meteor NF.14 WS760 * Handley Page Jetstream T.1 XX494 * Hawker Hunter T.7 XL569 * Hawker Hunter FR.10 XJ714 (composite of six airframes) * Hawker Hunter GA.11 WV382 * Hunting Jet Provost T.3 XN492 (nose) * Hunting Jet Provost T.4 XP568 * Percival Provost T.1 WW442 * Schleicher K 8 glider, registration unknown * SEPECAT Jaguar GR.3A XZ369 * Vickers VC10 C.1K XV108 (forward fuselage) * Vickers Vanguard V953C G-APES (nose) * Vickers Varsity T.1 WL626 *

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Vi ...

804 G-CSZB (nose) *

Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led t ...

HAS.3 XZ721 *

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engi ...

HC.4 ZD477 * Westland Whirlwind Srs.3 XG588 (ex VR-BEP) *

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main chang ...

HC.2 XT604 * Morane-Saulnier MS.880 Rallye G-BBLM

Other facilities

Pegasus Business Park, an office complex, is on the airport grounds. The now-defunct airline flybmi formerly had its head office at Pegasus Business Park.

Accidents and incidents

* On 20 February 1969,

G-AODG of British Midland Airways was damaged beyond economic repair when it landed short of the runway. There were no casualties. * On 31 January 1986,

Flight 328, a Short 360, en route from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, 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. * On 18 January 1987, a British Midland

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Eur ...

, on a training flight, crashed on approach to East Midlands Airport due to wing and tail surface icing. There were no fatalities. * On 8 January 1989, British Midland Flight BD092 crashed on approach to East Midlands Airport, killing 47 people. The

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

aircraft had developed a fan blade failure in one of the two engines while en route from London Heathrow to

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

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 and no vehicles were damaged 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. Later that day, when a package was found on a plane in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

, British officials searched again and found a bomb. The two packages, found on two planes originating in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

, contained the powerful

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...

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.

References

External links

*
East Midlands Aeropark
– official museum website
Donair Flying Club
– official flying club website {{authority control Aerospace museums in England Airports established in 1965 Airports in England Airports in Leicestershire Airports in the East Midlands Manchester Airports Group Military installations established in 1943 Military installations closed in 1946 Museums in Leicestershire North West Leicestershire District

Transport in Leicestershire 1943 establishments in England 1946 disestablishments in England 1965 establishments in England Civilian airports with RAF origins