Skylink is the brand name for bus services that serve

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. Services are presently operated by

Kinchbus Kinchbus is a bus operator in Loughborough, England. Since 1998 it has been a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History Kinchbus was founded in 1987 by former Leicester City Football Club director Gilbert Kinch trading as GK Kinch and base ...

and

trentbarton Trentbarton operates both local and regional bus services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 1913, Trent Motor Traction Company was found ...

, both a part of Derbyshire-based

Wellglade Group The Wellglade Group (WG), is a transport group operating bus and tram services in the English Midlands. History Wellglade was formed in 1986 when Brian King and Ian Morgan purchased Trent Buses from the National Bus Company (UK), Nationa ...

History

Nottingham City Transport Nottingham City TransportCompanies House extract company no 2004 ...

previously operated the Skylink Nottingham service until 2012 when the service was replaced by a new Skylink service operated by trentbarton via Long Eaton, which also replaced the indigo service between Long Eaton and Loughborough via East Midlands Airport and Sutton Bonington that ran between 2002 and 2012. Following a local petition, an hourly extension service to Coalville via

Shepshed Shepshed (often known until 1888 as ''Sheepshed'', also ''Sheepshead'' – a name derived from the village being heavily involved in the wool industry) is a town in Leicestershire, England with a population of 13,505 at the 2011 census. It is ...

was introduced in September 2015.

have operated the Skylink service between

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and

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 gai ...

since April 2009. The route was originally called AirLine Shuttle, and ran between Loughborough and Long Eaton then Derby via the airport. Arriva Midlands previously operated a limited-stop service (coloured light green) between Leicester and the airport via New Parks and the M1 between 2006 and 2009, this service was replaced by an extension of the now branded Skylink Derby service which runs down the A6 to Leicester via Birstall.

Services

Skylink buses operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week on the Leicester/Derby and Nottingham routes, the Skylink Express buses no longer operate overnight but do operate from 4am until midnight. Although not a part of Skylink brand, trentbarton also operate hourly extensions to East Midlands Airport on their My15 route between Ilkeston and New Sawley, while

Diamond East Midlands Diamond East Midlands, formerly Midland Classic, is a bus company from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since August 2022, the company is a subsidiary of Rotala. History Midland Classic Midland Classic was founded in July 2005 by Ja ...

extended their service AirLine 9 to East Midlands Airport in 2019, connecting the airport with

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire ...

Swadlincote Swadlincote is a former mining town in the district of South Derbyshire, England, lying within The National Forest area. It borders the counties of Leicestershire and Staffordshire, south-east of Burton upon Trent and north-west of Ashby-de ...

and

Burton-upon-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

Service Cutbacks

During August 2022,

Trent Barton Trentbarton operates both local and regional bus services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 1913, Trent Motor Traction Company was found ...

and

announced from 2 October 2022 that Skylink routes would undergo an overhaul The planned changes are: • Skylink Derby buses will have all journeys serving East Midlands Gateway and Kegworth. • Skylink Derby journeys via

Long Whatton Long Whatton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the English county of Leicestershire. It is south of East Midlands Airport, off Junctions 23 and 23 ...

and

Diseworth Diseworth is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth, in theNorth West Leicestershire district, in the English county of Leicestershire. It is south of East Midlands Airport and off Junction 23A of th ...

will be withdrawn and replaced by a re-routing of Skylink Nottingham journeys to/from Coalville will now serve Long Whatton and Diseworth but journeys between 8pm and 5am will be withdrawn. •Skylink Nottingham journeys to/from Loughborough were planned to be withdrawn but funding has allowed these to be retained until at least April 2023. • All Skylink Nottingham and Skylink Express journeys will now serve the new

Broadmarsh Bus Station Broadmarsh bus station is a bus station serving the city of Nottingham, England. The new bus station is situated in Nottingham City Centre adjacent to the former Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, underneath its multi-storey car park. It is bordere ...

in Nottingham.

Fleet

operate 11 Enviro200 MMCs on their Skylink Nottingham route while the ''Skylink Express'' services are currently using

Wright Solar The Wright Solar is a low entry single-decker bus body that was built on Scania L94UB and Scania K UB chassis by Wrightbus between 2000 and 2011. The Wright Solar Fusion is an articulated version. Most of the buses are fitted with the same d ...

s which will be replaced by newer buses which are surplus from other trentbarton services.

upgraded the Leicester-Derby route with 12 ADL Enviro200 MMCs to help meet the Leicester clean air zone requirements which came into force during late 2020. These new buses replaced

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

's.

References

{{Wellglade Group, state=expanded Bus routes in England East Midlands Airport Airport bus services