emacargo
the point is the airport needs an identity overseas and lets face it nobody outside of the derby ringroad has any idea where that town is and East Midlands means nothing AT ALL , when I am talking to people on holiday I always use nottingham as a reference and I live nearer to leicester than the other two cities

Possibly the "old name" "Castle Donnington" :rolleyes:
It just happens that there is a "World Famous" racetrack not a million miles away.....or am I being too clever?:confused:
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

Never mind the name of the airport, how about a more fitting memorial to poor souls who were killed there in the Kegworth M1 disaster. The only memorial there is, is a small plate (approx 10' x5') on the motorway bridge going into Kegworth with no names on or maybe it never happened!

is there a memorial at manchester for those on the Beatours B737?

I tend to agree with Chiglet as regards a name if it isnt East Midlands-well maybe knock the castle bit off to give you Donnigton International (unless there already is one) -many millions know the race track.
I still think a name change is abit short sighted.
Who books a flight to an airport and then builds a holiday around it (unless its costing £9.99 and 5 sweet wrappers). Generaly people think oh I would love to go to (insert area of world here) and then organise the airport or book a package.
As an example I went to Venezuela :cool: a few years ago.While there I flew to Canaima Airport but as I got off the aircraft I didnt then say right now iam here is there anything to see -OH LOOK there's the highest waterfall in the world-well what a coincidence. I wanted to see the waterfall and it was like-well where is the nearest airport?
Likewise with business passengers if they are coming into the UK to meet a company the likelyhood is they will ask the company in advance details about travel and hotels etc and not give a hoot about what the airports called as long as its close to where they are going.
Almost prof- as for Derby ring road would that be the inner or the outer?Dont ask me cus I dont know myself. :confused:
You know in all truth I would have expected masses of tourists by now wanting to see Derby Bus station as there is such a hoo haa about knocking it down because its such a fine example.Sadly once people remove their rose tinted specks they realise its just a manky cold place that smells of wee :yuk:
Hangar35 good point-never been close to the accident site other than on the M1 if its as you say its very sad and should be put right.

I agree call it either East Midlands Airport or Donnington International. Nothing to do with Nottingham.Whats famous from Nottingham other than Robin Hood and the castle???? Not much. The worlds oldest Football club is another but then what.
Derby has the 6th oldest football club in the world. Rolls Royce and as nottingham and Leicester, shopping centres and hotels.

Hangar35

RE Kegworth Memorial.

If I remember rightly, after the sign was erected on the M1 motorway bridge near where the British Midland 737 crashed there was also a Memorial Garden set out in the village of Kegworth including a permanent memorial/monument/stone. The M1 has been widened and altered arround the crash site and I think the original bridge re-sited, did the plague get replaced?

egnxema

egnexma, here is a picture:
http://www.kegworthvillage.com/images/airmemrl.jpg
See also - memorial site

egnxema, newswatcher,

I stand corrected my apoligies but where is this memorial?is it far from the crash site?. I know there was a crash in stockport in 1967 but it took 35 years to create a memorial and recently heard that somebody wanted to build flats on it !

Almost Proffesional

No there is no memorial to the KT/BA B737 perhaps there should be one

hanger35,

If you open the "memorial site" link, you will see a title bar across the top. Select "map", and you will get a map of Kegworth. Towards the bottom, and you will have to scroll down a couple of times using the buttons at the top left, you will see the cemetery arrowed, just off Whatton Road. It's less than a mile from the crash site and almost directly under the flight path.

Well the airport has announce that it is asking the public for reaction over the name change.

Has the airport been tuned into our forum?

Remember...you read it here first!

All will be revealed before Summer 2004! :p

I live in Leicestershire and so would not be overly thrilled if the airport changed its name to just Nottingham (although if I was EMA the amount the people of Leics complain I wouldnt be surprised if they didnt want to mention Leics at all!)

However, as someone with many contacts in Spain, I can fully appreciate the fact that very few people actually know what "east Midlands" is, as this is a phrase only used in the United Kingdom, elsewhere this phrase is little known.

But, if you do mention the name "Nottingham" people know what you mean. It is a place many Spanish people visit (the first thing I always say is "why!?") because of Robin Hood, the Forest, the team, the forest, the castle and apparently "its amazing shopping centres"

So ... from a tourist perspective it might be a good idea to include Nottingham in the name.

Maybe a Leeds/Bradford type thing: Nottingham/East Midlands, Nottingham/Derby/Leicester, East Midlands serving Nottingham ...