Long Stay Airport Parking

£54.99 a day buys you on-airport long stay with a shuttle trade-off

Long Stay Airport Parking at East Midlands runs as the airport’s on-site budget option for week-long trips, with a headline daily rate around £54.99 if you just rock up. It’s an official long stay car park inside the EMA boundary, not an off-airport field 20 minutes away down the A453.

The shuttle ride clocks in at about 3–5 minutes from the Long Stay area to T1, with buses typically running every 15 minutes during core flight times. Factor in a total transfer time of around 15 minutes from locking your car to standing at security in Terminal 1 if you’re travelling light.

This is a leave-your-keys, park-it-yourself setup, aimed at holidaymakers who don’t want to pay short stay prices for a 7–14 day trip. One Purple Parking reviewer for EMA Long Stay 1 called the whole process “very smooth” and “excellent,” specifically praising the straightforward entry and exit using automated number plate recognition.

Punchy on-the-day rates of roughly £54.99 mean the smart move is to pre-book. Regulars on comparison sites repeatedly say they reserve EMA Long Stay via brokers like Purple Parking or similar, often re-using the same company every time because the savings over drive-up pricing add up fast on a 10-night stay.

What regulars do: lock in a broker deal a few weeks before a Saturday package flight, screenshot the booking reference, then head straight for Long Stay on arrival at EMA without stopping at any reception hut. Entry is usually barrier up, park in any marked bay, shuttle, and go.

Practical tip: aim to be in the car park at least 75 minutes before bag drop closes; that gives you room for finding a space, a 15-minute transfer, and the walk to security in T1 without clock-watching.