East Midlands Flights

Name: East Midlands Airport
IATA code: EMA
Address: East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2SA, UK.
Telephone: +44 (0) 871 919 9000
Website: www.east-midlands-airport.co.uk

East Midlands Airport is located in Leicestershire, close to the village of Castle Donington. It lies 8 miles southeast of Derby, with Nottingham to the northeast and Leicester to the southeast. It is the largest airport in the East Midlands and primarily serves the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. It handled just over 5.6 million passengers in 2008, making it the 10th busiest airport in the UK that year, compared to 12th busiest in 2007. As well as being an important base of commercial aviation, East Midlands Airport is also the UK’s 2nd largest freight airport. Passenger numbers grew considerably at the airport with in the introduction of low-cost airlines in 2002. Services at the airport have grown since then; East Midlands Airport is now an important base for bmibaby, easyjet and Ryanair. These airlines account for the majority of commercial air traffic at the airport and provide regular scheduled flights to domestic and short-haul European destinations. Charter airlines offering seasonal services to holiday destinations in Europe, North America, North Africa and South Asia; also have a significant presence at the airport.

Ryanair, bmibaby and easyjet currently offer scheduled flights from East Midlands Airport to domestic and international destinations including Almeria, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Geneva, Glasgow, Grenada, Inverness, Jersey, Krakow, Nice, Paris, Prague, Rimini, Rome, Venice and Warsaw. Eastern Airways, Manx2 and bmi are the other scheduled airlines at the airport. Some of the routes they offer include Brussels, Cologne, Aberdeen and Isle of Man.

Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways are the biggest charter airlines here. They currently offer flights from East Midlands Airport to popular tourist destinations such as Alicante, Bodrum, Cancun, Faro, Goa, Ibiza, Izmir, Malta, Monastir, Orlando, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife and Zakynthos. Air Malta, BH Air, Eurocypria Airlines, Onur Air and Spanair also offer charter flights from East Midlands Airport.

East Midlands Airport serves no one destination so your journey to/from the airport depends largely on where you are coming from/going to. Luckily, the airport is well integrated into the local transport network. Regular shuttle bus services run between the airport and Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Loughborough. All have railway stations connected to the national rail network. Full travel information can be found on the airport website.

If you can’t find flights to East Midlands Airport (or from), then the closest alternative airports are Birmingham, Coventry and Doncaster/Sheffield. It should be noted that there is currently no commercial air activity at Coventry Airport but this could change.