I can appreciate the lack of enthusiasm for a further name change, however I think that in a time when aviation is seen as an easy target for critics, buttering up a couple of local councillors for good local publicity is always a good thing. Let's not forget that it is Leicestershire who provide the police force, and not just people in Nottingham, rather people in all three counties which make up the "East Midlands" who have to live under the flightpaths of flights operating into the airport. On the more positive note, this new name gives the three major cities as well as the region as a whole a sense of ownership in the airport.
Whilst I can imagine the name will be marketed as just "East Midlands" I really don't think this has ever caused problems in the past, and most airlines will use the full name for information about the airport when people click to find out more on their websites. Let's not forget the large number of people who speak English abroad who could probably decipher that East Midlands is in the middle of the country to the east roughly. Ryanair who have a large number of incoming passengers to the region have never called the airport Nottingham East Midlands on their website or promotional literature, and still manage to bring people to the area.
I'm pleased to see that the master plan has been revealed with some real targets for expansion and for targeting this growth whilst seriously looking at keeping the airport site as environmentally friendly as possible. It will be a shame to lose a lot of the training flights, but they are a real noise nuisance to local people, and will do a lot to create further goodwill in local communtiies.