Skylink (bus service)

Skylink is the brand name for bus services that serve East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire. Services are operated by Kinchbus and trentbarton, both a part of Derbyshire-based Wellglade Group.

History
Nottingham City Transport previously operated the Skylink Nottingham service until 2012 when the service was replaced by a new Skylink service operated by trentbarton via Long Eaton, which also replaced the indigo service between Long Eaton and Loughborough via East Midlands Airport and Sutton Bonington that ran between 2002 and 2012.

Following a local petition, an hourly extension service to Coalville via Shepshed was introduced in September 2015.

Kinchbus have operated the Skylink service between Leicester and Derby since 2008. Prior to 2008, route was originally called AirLine Shuttle, and ran between Loughborough and Long Eaton then Derby via the airport.

Arriva Midlands previously operated a limited-stop service (coloured light green) between Leicester and the airport via New Parks and the M1 between 2006 and 2009; this service was replaced by an extension of the now branded Skylink Derby service which runs down the A6 to Leicester via Birstall.

2022 Service Changes
During August 2022, Trent Barton and Kinchbus announced from 2 October 2022 that Skylink routes would undergo an overhaul; Skylink Derby buses ceased to serve Long Whatton and Diseworth from 3rd October 2022. During September 2022, funding from Leicestershire County Council and Nottinghamshire County Council halted plans to withdraw all journeys of the Skylink Nottingham between EMA Gateway and Loughborough alongside journeys between EMA Gateway and Coalville operating overnight between 8pm and 5am would be withdrawn, the funding lasted until April 2023 when the changes were implemented. These were withdrawn from 15 May 2023.

Services
Skylink buses operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week on the Leicester/Derby and Nottingham routes, the Skylink Express buses no longer operate overnight but do operate from 4am until midnight.

Although not a part of Skylink brand, trentbarton also operate hourly extensions to East Midlands Airport on their My15 route between Ilkeston and New Sawley, while Diamond East Midlands extended their service AirLine 9 to East Midlands Airport in 2019, connecting the airport with Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Swadlincote and Burton-upon-Trent..

As of 31 March 2024, Kinchbus will be increasing the frequency of the Leicester-Derby service to every 15 minutes during the Monday to Saturday daytimes, an additional four vehicles are being refurbished from the trentbarton fleet.

Fleet
Trent Barton operate 11 2017 Enviro200 MMCs on their Skylink Nottingham route while the Skylink Express services are currently using two 2004 Wright Solars which will be replaced by newer buses which are surplus from other Trent Barton services, including a 2009 Wright Eclipse Urban.

Kinchbus upgraded the Leicester-Derby route with 12 ADL Enviro200 MMCs to help meet the now cancelled Leicester clean air zone requirements which was due to come into force during late 2020, an additional four vehicles are being refurbished from the trentbarton fleet for the uplift in service. These new buses replaced Mercedes-Benz Citaro's. A 2017 ADL Enviro200MMC was transferred to Kinchbus and repainted from the Skylink Nottingham livery into the Skylink Derby livery following a frequency increase at the end of March 2024.

Spare buses in the liveries of the services' respective operators are also used when necessary.