East Midlands (airport)

The airport was originally the Royal Air Force base, RAF Castle Donington , which was closed in 1946. The airfield was acquired by a consortium of local authorities in 1964, at the same time construction work and reconstruction of the runway began. The airport was named East Midlands Airport (named after the territory) and opened to passengers in 1965.

In fact, East Midlands Airport replaced the smaller pre-war Derby airport in Burnaston . At the Derby Airport in Burnaston, the Toyota Automobile Factory was later built.

Derby Airways, which was then renamed British Midland Airways , relocated operations to a new airport and established headquarters in nearby Castle Donington , creating a network of domestic and international scheduled and charter airlines from East Midlands. A 1784-meter runway, an 18.2-meter taxiway were built, the hangar and apron were reconstructed, and parking for 850 cars was also built. The economic effect was not obtained immediately. However, the picture quickly changed with the growth in cargo volumes, which required the further development of the airport. In 1970, an agreement was reached on the construction of a new cargo complex and an increase in the runway and terminal.

The expansion went quickly; in the late 1970s, the runway was increased and the terminal was reconstructed. In 1985, for the first time, passenger turnover exceeded one million passengers a year, which necessitated a further increase in the terminal. In 1987, the airport became a public company.

With the increase in passenger and freight traffic in 1992, a plan was proposed to further expand East Midlands Airport. However, despite the support of the local authorities who owned the airport, the necessary funds were not found, so in 1993 East Midlands became the first major regional airport in the UK to be privatized . National Express Group acquired an airfield for 24.3 million ft. Art. and started investing in airport infrastructure. The runway was increased by 600 m to receive large long-haul aircraft and a new control tower was built , the second highest in the UK. National Express invested about 77 million ft. Art. for eight years.

DHL Aviation opened new cargo capacities at the airport in 2000, with investments of 35 million ft. Art., in the same year, a business park was built near the airport. Nevertheless, the National Express Group announced that it intended to concentrate on bus and rail transportation, and sold the East Midlands Airport (together with the Bournemouth and Humberside airports in March 2001, the Manchester Airports Group for 241 million ft.

In 2002, low-cost airlines began to work actively at the airport, as a result of which passenger traffic began to grow sharply, in 2002 it grew by 36% to 3.23 million. Go Fly opened a hub in East Midlands, and after its absorption easyJet the number of flights even more increased. Most of the bmi routes were transferred to its budget unit, bmibaby , in 2002.

In 2006, passenger traffic reached 4.72 million, the twelfth figure in the UK. The subsequent increase in terminal loading led to the need for its further expansion and reconstruction.

In 2004, it was proposed to rename the East Midlands Airport to Nottingham East Midlands Airport , despite the fact that the airport is located in Leicestershire and its zip code corresponds to Derby , in addition, it is nearby with derby . In addition, there is Nottingham Airport , which is closer to Nottingham , although it has a small airfield and serves only general aviation.

The reason for the renaming was that many people outside the UK , unfamiliar with the geography of the country, could not accurately identify the name "East Midlands" with a specific region of the UK. The main argument for adding the word “ Nottingham ” to the name was that the city was of great international fame due to its size and history.

On December 9, 2006, the airport changed its name ^[4] to East Midlands Airport: Nottingham, Leicester, Derby ( Eng. East Midlands Airport: Nottingham, Leicester, Derby ) ^[5] .

The airport is not far from the M1 and M42 motorways, which connect it to all of Midland's largest cities.

Railway traffic is much worse; The nearest railway station is Long Eaton , however Airline Shuttle carries passengers to the stations of Laiboreau and Derby . Skylink serves routes to and from Nottingham and Leicester , however, in addition to airport passengers, its buses still drive local residents, and therefore do not move so fast. Network Rail plans to build a new East Midlands Parkway railway station near the airport, opening in 2008/09.

East Midlands Airport is the hub for low-cost airlines easyJet , bmibaby and Ryanair , while serving a wide range of domestic and European short-haul destinations. Long-haul flights appeared in 2005 with the introduction of First Choice Airways weekend flights to the Dominican Republic , Orlando and Cancun .

Regular flights

• bmi
  • bmi regional operator
• bmibaby
• Eastern airways
• easyJet
• Manx2
• Ryairair
• Sterling airlines

Charter Airlines

• First choice airways
• Thomas Cook Airlines
• Thomsonfly
• XL Airways

Regular freight flights

• BAC Express Airlines
• DHL Air
• European air transport
• Europe airpost
• Icelandair
• Jet2.com
• Lufthansa Cargo
• Star Air (Maersk Air)
• Titan airways
• TNT Airways
• UPS Airlines

Other cargo airlines at the airport

• Antonov Airlines
• Bluebird cargo
• Polet
• RAF Avia
• Atlas Air
• Evergreen
• Emirates cargo
• MNG Cargo
• Singapore Airlines Cargo
• Cathay Pacific Cargo
• Cargolux
• Gemini air cargo
• Volga dnepr
• Farnair

East Midlands Airport is the second largest cargo airport in the UK after Heathrow . In 2006, Heathrow handled 1.34 million tons of cargo and mail, while East Midlands handled 298,000 tons. In terms of cargo transported by cargo planes, East Midlands exceeded Heathrow with 272,000 tons, but in the latter more than 1 million tons of cargo and mail was transported by passenger planes. DHL Aviation sets big goals by building its own facilities at East Midlands Airport, UPS and TNT also use the airport as a base. Lufthansa Cargo is also a regular visitor to East Midlands, and the airport also serves as a hub for Royal Mail .

• On January 8, 1989, a Boeing 737 of British Midland Airlines crashed while approaching East Midlands Airport, killing 47 people. The plane made a flight between Heathrow and Belfast International Airport and, due to problems in one of the engines, decided to make an emergency landing in East Midlands. The crew mistakenly stopped a working engine, as a result of which the aircraft lost power and fell on the M1 track, not reaching the runway. There were no casualties on earth. As a result of the incident investigation, 31 safety recommendations were made.

The airport fleet in the northwestern part of the aerodrome houses a static collection of aircraft of various times, 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 Mk IV PL256 (Replica), Vickers Viscount 807 G-CSZB (Cockpit), Vickers Vanguard V953c G-APES (cab), Britten Sheriff G-FRJB and 2 Vampire , which are currently being restored. The acquisition of HS Dominie , Avro 748 and Vickers Viscount is planned.

• Official website
• Official website of the Aeropark (English)