Burnie5204,

The apron improvements I refer to related to a planning application (Dec 2011) for ground level covered walkways. As my business no longer takes me to the airport I don't know if these were ever built?
As you suggest, going back further, there were also plans for an extension to the elevated walkway to the arrivals hall, thus reducing the number of bus transfers required; the plans also included provision for the addition of airbridges at some future date.
I assume finances and reduced passenger throughput have seen these plans binned?

Balair

I'm not familiar with those plans but I can tell you there are currently no covered walkways to or from aircraft except the last 15ft in front of Intl Arrivals and the plans for this round of development shows no external covered walkways.

As you say I suspect the economic climate, loss of WW and other such factors may have put a halt to those plans.

Know its very spotterish but its also a historic moment for the airport... enjoy

Ematom - very spotter ish but brilliant to see. Thanks for posting that. When empty they leave the ground like a rocket!

As part of the registration says "WOW" very nice.I couldn't be there to watch, but glad you were there ematom thank you ! I wonder in the future whether we will see another A380 at ema? There was talk of the BA A380 (when it is finished being built) coming to ema as part of route/ airport tests. Just goes to show ema can handle anything.:D

thanks guys hopefully one day we shall see the A380 back at EMA such a great sight to see at a mid sized regional airport, who knows whats possible for EMA in the future :)

Well considering it takes up the whole of the Eastern apron, and could carry over 500 passengers, and you can get 80 people on a coach, you would need around 7 coaches to transport passengers, so in high-sight, its not going to happen within the next 30 years for sure!

They would have to wait a long time for the steps to arrive.
Heaven knows how long it would take to get through passport control. The back of the queue would be standing outside.
Not to mention how the pick up area would manage the amount of cars.
It is high time EMA bucked their ideas up and joined the 21st century. It is a disgrace.

And while I'm at it, what is that wreck on the side of the runway? Is it an old Dan Dare 727 which they forgot about?

Its part of the fire training ground

The only reason the A380 (and the spitfire that also taxied up to the east apron) had the whole east apron was so the apron could be segregated and be returned to landside so that Rolls-Royce, local schools and the media would have easy access to the aircraft otherwise it could have gone onto a stand.


And also as andyy says the 727 is part of the fire training ground. The airport bought it from Air Alfa after it suffered an accident at EMA which was classified as a hull loss when it 'sat down' in strong winds... Previously registered as TC-ALM


http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviatio.../6/0213691.jpg

Freebird Airlines will operate an additional EMA-DLM on behalf of Thomson for S13 from 26 May-29 Sep on an A320

East Midlands is looking like it's going to get a pretty busy summer for 2013. Seems that next summer, East Midlands will be quite a bit ahead of Liverpool, who is currently slightly in front of East Midlands in terms of passenger numbers. Looks like Liverpool will only get around 50-55 departures per day in the summer whereas at East Midlands, it could be around 70 on the busiest days. Even Ryanair appear to be marginally bigger at EMA than LPL next year. I know the winter period at EMA is very quiet, but is there a chance of EMA over taking Newcastle as well for 2013??

Ryanair have released their Polish and French routes now, there are still wide gaps, and on most days, a 7th aircraft isn't required, I'm guessing they are still yet to publish their increased capacity...

No they don't seem to have just yet however they did say that an extra aircraft would be added (making it 7) and 17 routes would get extra flights. There will certainly be an increase on summer 2012 anyway, probably the number of daily departures raising from around the high teens to the low-mid twenties I would imagine.

A380F would be more of a prospect I think at EMA in the future, and not so distant future at that.
On another A380 point, I see the BA A380 (msn095) took to the skies for the first time on the 09th Nov, wearing the tail only livery of British Airways. My friend a BA redcap at LHR T5 can't wait to have a go on that ! How I wish I was still there :O.

Do they still have plans for a A380F? What day & times is the Freebird A320 scheduled in the summer?

Arrives 08:25 and departs at 09:25 on Sundays. (FHY611/FHY612 to/from Dalaman).

I thought they did. There is stand 120X which I think would be used if an operator ever decided to come to EMA. The good think about EMA is you just never know what will pop in from time to time ! It doesn't have to be a regular thing, but would be nice to see an A380F every now and then.

Watched an RAF VC10 do a few circuits and bumps yesterday, whilst walking the dog, followed by a civil Hercules taking off.