I have just returned from a Motocross weekend at Donington Park, which is directly adjacent to East Midlands Airport. Being interested in airliners (and having my camcorder with me), I was looking forward to getting a fair amount of film footage. Unfortunately, I experienced one major problem.THE AIRPORT WAS INCREDIBLY EMPTY.I was really surprised (and shocked) that such a large airport could be wasted to such an extent. In fact, it was so quiet that some guy was doing multiple touch-and-go's in his Cessna :-eekFor anyone who doesn't know anything about East Midlands Airport, it is a relatively modern large airport in central England (just south of Nottingham). The runway is 9500 feet long and 150 feet wide, and it can handle the very largest airliners in the world. So why is such a huge asset like this being wasted ? Why do airport expansion plans in England always have to revolve around "London this, London that" ? Why can't the airport authorities see that they already have a nice, large airport that is begging to be used ?I'll tell you why. BECAUSE IT ISN'T NEAR LONDON.Perhaps if more people realised that there is more to England than Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, we might actually start getting somewhere.Fat chance.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

"I'll tell you why. BECAUSE IT ISN'T NEAR LONDON.Perhaps if more people realised that there is more to England than Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, we might actually start getting somewhere."Manchester (EGCC) is a big international airport, and there is not THAT much to see in Manchester:)

I assume that you must be joking here ? I have taken lots of film footage at Manchester within the last three years, and the airport is extremely busy from early morning until late afternoon. In contrast, I estimate that around 20 airliners landed at East Midlands airport between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. this Saturday. Maybe eight of these were BA CRJ-200's (including six in a row spread over two or three hours), and the rest were mostly BMI Baby 737's.That is pathetic for an airport as large as East Midlands.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

The CRJ in question was crew training in from Birmingham. British Airways do not operate from East Midlands in any way, shape or form.BMI Baby and EasyJet are the main operators at the moment, with MyTravel and Britannia to some extent.The Cargo operation is what make the airport tick. Once a week, Cathay Pacific operate in from Hong Kong with a -400F, from 2 April, Kalitta will be operating in five times a week with a 747-200F to Kennedy and O'Hare. UPS also operate two 767-300F's in, at least twelve times per week.All very well and good ... but the main apron is tiny. There are no airbridges .. unlike Stansted, Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow ... etc.There is also 10,000' of runway ... just the 250' starter strips at each end have been grassed over, awaiting planning permission to *build* them.