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 the Derbyshire-based Wellglade Group.

Skylink

a Skylink Leicester-Derby branded ADL Enviro200 MMC outside the Haymarket Shopping Centre in Leicester during June 2025
Founded	April 2009
Service area	East Midlands Airport Nottinghamshire Leicestershire Derbyshire
Service type	Bus services
Stations	St Margaret's Bus Station Derby Bus Station East Midlands Airport
Depots	Loughborough Nottingham
Fleet	29 Skylink Derby 16 ADL Enviro200 MMCs Skylink Nottingham 10 ADL Enviro200 MMCs Skylink Express 3 Wright Eclipse Urban-bodied Volvo B7RLE
Fuel type	diesel
Operator	Kinchbus Trentbarton
Website	www.trentbarton.co.uk/services/skylinkwww.kinchbus.co.uk/Skylink

History

Skylink Nottingham

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,^[1] an hourly extension service to Coalville via Shepshed was introduced in September 2015.

Skylink Express

Skylink Express was introduced in January 2016 to provide faster connections to East Midlands Airport via Clifton Park & Ride hub and A453 Remembrance Way which largely followed the former Nottingham City Transport Skylink Nottingham route which was replaced in 2012.

Skylink Leicester-Derby

Kinchbus have operated the Skylink service between Leicester and Derby since 2008. Prior to 2008, the route was known as AirLine Shuttle, and ran between Loughborough and Long Eaton then Derby via the airport.^[2]

Arriva Midlands previously operated a Skylink service between Leicester and the airport via New Parks and the M1 between 2006 and 2009, however this service was replaced by an extension of the Kinchbus Skylink service which operates as a limited stop service from Loughborough via the A6 and Birstall into Leicester, over the later years Kinchbus increased the frequency of the Leicester-Derby service to every 20 minutes in 2014 then in March 2024 the frequency was increased again to every 15 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes.^[3]

2017 Alexander-Dennis Enviro200MMC in the Skylink Nottingham livery

Nottingham City Transport Scania Omnicity formerly used on their Skylink service

2022 service changes

During August 2022, Trent Barton and Kinchbus announced from 2 October 2022 that Skylink routes would undergo an overhaul;^[4][5] Skylink Derby buses ceased to serve Long Whatton and Diseworth from 3 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. ^[6] These were withdrawn from 15 May 2023.^[7]

Services

Scania L94UB/Wright Solar in the Skylink Express livery, Carrington Street, Nottingham

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

Service	Route
Skylink Leicester & Derby	Leicester (St Margaret's Bus Station) - Birstall - Loughborough - Kegworth - East Midlands Airport - Castle Donington- Shardlow - Alvaston - Derby [8]
Skylink Nottingham	Nottingham - Beeston - Long Eaton - Castle Donington - East Midlands Airport - some daytime journeys then continue hourly to Coalville via Shepshed;[9] all other journeys terminate at East Midlands Gateway.
Skylink Express	Nottingham - Clifton - fast along Remembrance Way - East Midlands Airport [10]

Other Services

trentbarton also operate to East Midlands Airport on their My15 route between Ilkeston and New Sawley. 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..^[11]

Fleet

Skylink Nottingham operates with ten Enviro200 MMCs, Skylink Express operates with three Wright Eclipse Urban buses.

Kinchbus operate 16 Skylink branded Enviro200MMCs on the Leicester-Derby service, these new vehicles were introduced from 3 August 2025 with a new two tone livery of yellow and navy to replace current batch of vehicles which were introduced during 2020.^[12][13]