oliema, I'm not quite sure why you think it's so sad that Ryanair are expanding at East Midlands Airport. The airline is clearly committed to growth at the airport, in a way we simply have never seen from the bmi group under any of their incarnations (British Midland, British Midland Commuter, bmi regional, bmibaby), and Ryanair are helping add destinations where there is clearly a strong demand, but would never have even been a blip on the radar of bmibaby. I'm not going into the whole sales spiel, but Ryanair are a very important part of the airport's operation now, and hopefully long may this continue.
Terminal work continues to change every day. You'll probably have noticed that the check-in hall is being slowly chopped & changed, as the airport is keen for retail units to be increased in the decreasing landside space. Considering that ticketing functions are decreasing for tour operators, it seems that only the main tour operators; Thomson, MyTravel (their unit has been halved in space), First Choice, Thomas Cook (moving into a smaller unit), Aviation Affairs and Airport-Agencies (the latter two representing various smaller tour operators) will have a ticket desk in the terminal, alongside those of the airlines. The leftover space is going to be used for small retail outlets within the check-in hall, to compliment the Caffe Ritazza, which will indicate where the landside part of the terminal will end.