The East Midlands Airport Experience in 2024!
There were three main airports serving the "Midlands" during the 20th Century. Birmingham Airport has become the dominant of the three airports, whilst the often overlooked Coventry Airport is now closed to commercial airlines and only handles general aviation. That leaves the third player- East Midlands Airport which serves mainly Nottingham and Derby. I had been to EMA on spotting trips and to see the airport's little aviation museum fondly known as the EMA "Aeropark". But it had been over 20 years and with my mission to fly from as many UK Airports I could (especially one's I hadn't flown from), East Midlands alongside Birmingham Airport was quite high for a priority and I came up with something.
I travelled from Bournemouth to Nottingham (via London) by coach the day before my booked Ryanair flight from East Midlands to Belfast, and booked an Airport Hotel in Kegworth, a small village on the flight path to East Midlands Airport, separated by the M1 Motorway and the eerie sight of the crash site of British Midland BD092 which happened just off the Runway threshold in 1989…
The site of the British Midland flight 092 disaster, 35 years later. The plane crashed between the blue road sign and the on-coming concrete bridge whilst making an emergency landing at EMA, where BMI was founded and head-quartered.
I opted to stay at the Kegworth Hotel and Conference Centre, it was good for the £63 I paid for one night. It is a £2 bus ride to and from the Airport and on a good day, it could be used as a "Spotting Hotel" as its a five minute walk from the main flight path for EMA arrivals.
East Midlands was bought alongside my local Bournemouth Airport by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) in the mid-2000s. MAG eventually sent Bournemouth off to City and Regional Airports Group with East Midlands remaining in a portfolio group with Manchester Airport and London Stansted. As with London STN, East Midlands is a UK Cargo Hub and sees a lot of services from DHL, FedEx and UPS- though mainly at unsocial or night hours. If you go to the Arrivals hall there is the main Bus and Coach area where you can get local services to Derby and Nottingham as well as National Express services linking through the UK.
East Midlands Airport is pretty basic airside. Not a lot has changed, except for the lack of BMI Baby and British Midland flights since 2012 and the introduction of Jet2, oh and Thomson Airways becoming TUI Airways. The slot where the FOODIES vending machines are I am certain used to contain an aviation hobby shop back in 2005, but that is long gone now. Ryanair dominates the far left check in stands with a few regional airlines, whilst the main area before security is home to Jet2 & TUI Airways.
Getting airside I managed to find a window over looking the Apron and Runway which provided me some opportunities to get some departing, arriving and parked planes- oh and a Ryanair 737 crew training!
Must have timed my entrance correctly for the East Midlands rush hour! It was nice to see some DHL Boeing heavies, especially a Boeing 767!
As with most UK Airports, eating is expensive and all the cafes and restaurants are going to sting you one way or another. I opted to get to the Airport early to explore it and plane spot, so no hotel breakfast and I opted to go with the EMA Frankie & Benny's branch, the prices seemed reasonable and not too different from a non-Airport location, and I enjoyed my breakfast choice!
Though I was surprised it wasn't busier, however I must have been in-between the early departures and mid-day departures as there wasn't much going on in aircraft movements other than the crew training Ryanair 737 going-around.
The airport is pretty basic, but does have an Escape Lounge which access can be purchased. A pair of doors take you to an extension area which is likely used at peak times when there's extra flights coming in or out during the height of the holidays.
An upper level floor area offers a Burger King and Pub with a seating area offering another good view across the Apron and Runway. So if the downstairs is quite busy and bustling, you can always come up here.
Ryanair UK (RK9606) EMA-BFS
Eventually the gate was called for the passengers to get to where our flight was going to be leaving from, even though the aircraft had literally just touched down on the Runway, I even got a picture of it taxiing on stand whilst walking to the Gate. After being scanned through, I followed everyone out to the aircraft and got the chance to observe another Ryanair Boeing 737-800 coming in and parking on stand from France. Which was a very cool thing to witness and film on my GoPro- luckily I didn't get in trouble or shouted at!
I boarded through the rear door as I was due to sit at Seat 20F for this short flight over to Belfast, it was here that I saw our plane was going to be British registered Boeing 737-8AS(WL) G-RUKG, formerly flying from 2008-2021 as EI-DYM for the Irish mainline Ryanair. There isn't any major changes to this Boeing 737 except for it going onto the UK register so Ryanair can have an easier time flying from the UK or flying within the UK post Brexit. Whilst most the UK registered Boeing 737s have been given Split-Scimitar upgrades, G-RUKG has yet to be retro-fitted.
This Boeing 737-800 has been given the newer slimline seats, but retains the older pre-2016 cabin design. Once boarding was completed and the doors closed, the crew did the safety demo as we proceeded to push back and made the short taxi down to the threshold of Runway 27, where we'd be departing out to the West of the Runway!
As we took off for Northern Ireland, I got a great view of the East Midland's Aeropark, a small aviation museum at the end of the Airport's Runway which contains multiple military and civilian aircraft, including an Armstrong-Whitworth AW.660 Argosy cargo aircraft, Hawker-Siddley Nimrod (developed from the DeHavilland Comet 4), Avro Vulcan and the forward fuselage of a Vickers VC-10!
We very quickly entered the clouds, but after about 5 minutes of climbing we were out of the thick cloud cover and into the blue skies above.
Before we took off, I opted to pre-order from the Getaway Café as Ryanair introduced a QR Code which links to the Ryanair App and you can order to your seat. I simply ordered a Cappuccino coffee with some Maltesers and sure enough, a few minutes after the seat belt sign was turned off, a crew member delivered my order and I paid using card for it, despite being Ryanair UK and flying a UK domestic flight, all Ryanair inflight prices are in Euro. My order came to €6.50c (£5.50p).
The flight passed reasonably uneventful, a small bit of turbulence required the seatbelt sign to be turned on. But it was only for a few minutes before we cleared the rough patch. I did visit the loo, but a "loo review" of a Ryanair 737 didn't seem necessary for this report. Once we left England, the crew began clearing the cabin as the pilots started our descent over the Irish Sea as we closed in on Belfast International.
Belfast International was just as cloudy and miserable as East Midlands Airport once we descended through the clouds. Once we passed through the cloud cover I got to see quite a decent view of the local countryside around the former RAF Aldergrove. As we passed the threshold of the Runway, I noticed a holding easyJet Airbus A320 waiting for us to arrive so it could take off.
We made a short taxi over to the main gates for domestic arrivals into Belfast, as we parked on stand I noticed just a short distance from our Boeing 737-800 was a trio of Boeing 737s on a remote ramp consisting of a Canadian WestJet Boeing 737-8MAX, Boeing 737-400F & Boeing 737-800F of West Atlantic Cargo. Basically a full family gathering of different Boeing 737s. All that was missing was a Boeing 737-200 to complete the generation game!
Exiting the aircraft my GoPro began to play up a bit, but I was able to get some snaps of the empty cabin of the aircraft as well as one last photo of the Boeing 737-800 as I walked past it towards the domestic arrivals entrance at Belfast International. I was changing flights here so I had to go into the arrivals area and go back through into departures, but doing this at Belfast International is pretty seamless if you leave an allowance of 2.5hrs or more on a domestic arrival, I would recommend leaving at least 3 hours or more if you're coming from from abroad though.
And all that's left to say about this flight is… WELCOME TO BELFAST!
