EMA NAME CHANGE - Public Opinion

So now it seems that Nottingham has gained a new airport at Derby's and Leicester's expense, or did Nottingham provide this airport in the first place? I think not. I would have thought that East Midlands Airport was well considered at the beginning to suit three cities and counties, so why the sudden decision to change? So now, if I want to fly in to Derby I have to fly to Nottingham Airport, in Leicestershire. No confusion there then. It appears that BMI are prepared to alter distances and opinion polls just to suit their own needs. Well, in a poll I carried out, 100% of the people I surveyed wanted the airport to remain EMA.

It seems that Nottingham will do anything to put itself on the map, regardless of others. Well done, Nottingham, you are now on the map as the world's most treacherous backstabbers. You've obviously got what you want, to the cost of snubbing your neighbours' feelings. And as for renaming the airport because of some fictitious cartoon character, who came from Yorkshire anyway, do we really need that? This whole idea sounds to me like it's being done for someone's own meglomaniacal selfish gain. David P. Murphy

So people won't fly to an airport unless it has a name they recognise? To get to Derby, Leicester or Nottingham they will fly to Birmingham or Luton, or better still, London Luton, because they've heard of these places. What preposterous nonsense. Surely, people know where they want to get to and fly to the nearest airport. You don't get to Menorca by flying to Palma because you've never heard of Mahon. Would it not have been better to call it New York, because more people will have heard of that than Nottingham? Did those people who'd never heard of East Midlands, but had heard of Nottingham, know where it is? Did they know anything about it? Would they want to go there if they did?

And, since their knowledge of geography is apparently based on films, are they sure that that Robin Whatshisname fellow wasn't from Notting Hill? This is a bad and insulting decision made by "business" people who are profit-and-spin-driven rather than service-driven. If East Midlands Airport wants to maintain or increase its business it should strive to be the best airport around, not alienate two-thirds of its existing domestic customer base by insulting them. I would like to see the Derby and Leicester media mount a sustained joint campaign to have this naive and stupid decision reversed. If they had any sense of fair play and consideration for their neighbours, the people of Nottingham should also be objecting. Alan MacMaster

With the renaming of East Midlands Airport to Nottingham EMA, I feel the time has come for me to vent my frustrations about Derby. Is Derby forever going to have that small market town feel or will it finally shake the shackles off and become a bustling, regional, exciting, vibrant, forward-thinking city. It is time the city council took a leaf from the books of Manchester and Sheffield and, dare I say, Nottingham, and reinvent this city of ours. Look at the comparable local cities of Nottingham and Leicester. There is a 'city feeling' to both of them. Both have a city skyline, which Derby seriously lacks, apart from our Cathedral (I remember as a child first driving into Nottingham and thinking that that must be how Chicago looks!). Both promote themselves in their own way. Leicester is a thriving multicultural city, has a comedy festival, promotes new bands and brands itself has an exciting place to live.

Nottingham is fast becoming the East Midlands capital, promoting itself as a young, fashionable, cosmopolitan and contemporary place to live. And what of Derby? No office blocks to make a skyline, a shopping centre which is not as big as those in Burton or Mansfield. No stylish city centre apartments. No venue to hold big concerts ... need I say more? So, come on Derby, let's make our city a place to be proud of, let's get investment into it, let's rebuild it, let's get people working and living here. Let's get people wanting to visit Derby to shop and to be entertained. Let's face it, how many of us visited Nottingham over Christmas? Then ask yourself how many Nottingham people came over to Derby? Enough of 'Derby - the city where you can say yes' and more of 'Derby - the city'. P. D. Johnson