Don’t rock up late to East Midlands Airport if travelling while Download Festival is underway
East Midlands Airport customers may be heading to their Paradise City in Europe while Guns n’ Roses fans are making their way to this year’s Download Festival next month.
The US rockers are Saturday night headliners at the Donington Park festival next to the airport, with heavy metal bands Limpbizkit and Linkin Park taking the Friday and Sunday top slots. The line-up, including more than 90 other acts, is expected to attract 95,000 music fans to the site from Wednesday 10 June when campsites open for the extended weekend of live rock and metal acts that’s now in its 22nd year.
The festival inevitably brings significant extra traffic to the roads near the airport, including the M1, A42, A50 and A453. Festival organisers work with the local highways authorities and the police to manage the huge influx of people, with traffic management plans proving successful in recent years.
East Midlands Airport still advises its customers to allow extra time for journeys to and from the airport if they are travelling when Download Festival is underway.
The airport has 624 flights arriving and departing over the five days when people will arrive, stay and leave the festival and has arranged for airlines to alert their passengers to potential delays. Airport representatives have been in regular dialogue with festival organisers to understand their traffic plans.
Operations Director at East Midlands Airport, Lauren Turner, said: “Every year we meet frequently with the festival organisers to plan how the traffic will be managed to minimise the impact on our operations and our customers.
“The arrangements for getting people to and from the festival site are now well established and effective, but with extra traffic on the roads around the airport during this time, we always advice our customers to allow extra time.
“The other potential impact on our operations is the use of drones to film at the festival. It is illegal to do so close to the airport, which we know is a message organisers emphasise with festival goers, as it could create diversions, delays and risks for passenger and cargo flights."
Airport users are advised to check latest traffic and travel reports before they set off and follow East Midlands Airport on social media for latest flight information East Midlands Airport (@EMA_Airport) X (twitter.com) and https://www.facebook.com/EastMidsAirport