A new airport.... South Yorkshire Airport City?

Doncaster Sheffield Airport Strategic Review Announcement​

Forums4airports discusses the latest press release from Doncaster Sheffield airport where the airport questions the future of the airport. The owners of the airport, the Peel Group have announced they are looking at their options as the group has decided the airport is no longer viable as an operational airport. Here's the press release:

"The Board of Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) has begun a review of strategic options for the Airport. This review follows lengthy deliberations by the Board of DSA which has reluctantly concluded that aviation activity on the site may no longer be commercially viable.

DSA’s owner, the Peel Group, as the Airport’s principal funder, has reviewed the conclusions of the Board of DSA and commissioned external independent advice in order to evaluate and test the conclusions drawn, which concurs with the Board’s initial findings.

Since the Peel Group acquired the Airport site in 1999 and converted it into an international commercial airport, which opened in 2005, significant amounts have been invested in the terminal, the airfield and its operations, both in relation to the original conversion and subsequently to improve the facilities and infrastructure on offer to create an award winning airport.

However, despite growth in passenger numbers, DSA has never achieved the critical mass required to become profitable and this fundamental issue of a shortfall in passenger numbers is exacerbated by the announcement on 10 June 2022 of the unilateral withdrawal of the Wizz Air based aircraft, leaving the Airport with only one base carrier, namely TUI.

This challenge has been increased by other changes in the aviation market, the well-publicised impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly important environmental considerations. It has therefore been concluded that aviation activity may no longer be the use for the site which delivers the maximum economic and environmental benefit to the region. Against this backdrop, DSA and the Peel Group, will initiate a consultation and engagement programme with stakeholders on the future of the site and how best to maximise and capitalise on future economic growth opportunities for Doncaster and the wider Sheffield City Region.

The wider Peel Group is already delivering significant development and business opportunities on its adjoining GatewayEast development including the recent deal for over 400,000 sq ft logistics and advanced manufacturing development on site, creating hundreds of new jobs and delivering further economic investment in the region.

Robert Hough, Chairman of Peel Airports Group, which includes Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said: “It is a critical time for aviation globally. Despite pandemic related travel restrictions slowly drawing to a close, we are still facing ongoing obstacles and dynamic long-term threats to the future of the aviation industry. The actions by Wizz to sacrifice its base at Doncaster to shore up its business opportunities at other bases in the South of England are a significant blow for the Airport.

Now is the right time to review how DSA can best create future growth opportunities for Doncaster and for South Yorkshire. The Peel Group remains committed to delivering economic growth, job opportunities and prosperity for Doncaster and the wider region.”

DSA and the Peel Group pride themselves on being forward-thinking whilst prioritising the welfare of staff and customers alike. As such, no further public comments will be made whilst they undertake this engagement period with all stakeholders.
During the Strategic Review, the Airport will operate as normal. Therefore passengers who are due to travel to the airport, please arrive and check in as normal. If there are any disruptions with your flight, you will be contacted by your airline in good time.
For all press enquiries, please contact Charlotte Leach at [email protected]."

"Not great news for DSA or the region"

Should the government or local council foot the bill and provide a financial subsidy to keep the airport open, thoughts...?

 

I do try to stay away from being too personal in my attacks of various public leaders, but ex MP Nick with his selfie stick has sent a letter, which he has proudly signed, to Rachel Reeves. One request was to scrap APD because MoL has publicly committed to flying from DSA if they do (but omitted the overwhelmingly negative statement regarding DSA and its actual potential, context is always key!).

But that’s not the worst bit. The bloke has put his name to, and I quote ‘Fine airlines for circling when it occurs which will incentivise airlines to use airports where that will not occur’. Yes that’s right folks, Nick Fletcher has publicly stated that airlines should be fined for being safe. No I am not taking anything out of context, he really has said that airlines should be prevented from taking up the hold when they need to.

What an absolute pillock.

APD raises about £4bn pa. Does he really think anyone would consider that loss of revenue is a price worth paying to get the odd Ryanair flight in, where does he expect the revenue to come from to plug that hole?
The less said about the other statement the better - does he really think airlines chose to stack and burn expensive fuel and inconvenience passengers? Still at least he has furthered the cause for LHR as that’s one of the reasons for their new runway……

 

APD raises about £4bn pa. Does he really think anyone would consider that loss of revenue is a price worth paying to get the odd Ryanair flight in, where does he expect the revenue to come from to plug that hole?
The less said about the other statement the better - does he really think airlines chose to stack and burn expensive fuel and inconvenience passengers? Still at least he has furthered the cause for LHR as that’s one of the reasons for their new runway……

The blokes a complete muppet. I feel sorry for the people of Doncaster because on the one hand they have someone who can’t pronounce Doncaster nor, evidently, be trusted to answer questions so must instead read from a pre prepared statement that she can’t even read. On the other hand you have an unimaginative twerp who has actually shared a picture of a blue cap with MDGA on it ‘Make Doncaster Great Again’ and clearly intends to run for Mayor.

But knee jerk putting your name to something that inherently tries to interfere with the safety of commercial air transport is another level of stupidity. I seem to recall he pulled a similar stunt when CAA deferred the LBA ACP with some findings to answer, claiming that LBA has lost their ACP proposal. Or something like that.

For what it’s worth I have had occasion to hold over DSA more than once due to no visual reference at DA. One aircraft even diverted elsewhere. Those low lying fogs or temporary warm fronts even pass through the mighty DSA.

 

there is a massive amount of land to develop there, Peel own all the land to the round about. after that towards the

gateway east up to the roundabout ( hurst lane) is owned by Peel. the land from there to parrots corner nr the m18 is not. They could build 1000,s of houses , warehouses, factorys etc.. the big plus as Peel knew, was the road is in place, and building the amazone there opens it up for massive developments with no problem with planning ( the land is very affordable).
regards the airport ,the people of south yorkshire want the airport , much like teeside, . with ,say tui flying out of there, they would be more than happy, business flights will never work from there. if liverpool and everton did not have such massive following there air traffic with be cut 20-25%. no one is going to fly to DSA to see the rovers, blades, or wednesday.

Liverpool handled over 5M last year, the majority of that is EZY, FR AND Jet2 not football charters, they do not make up 20-25% of passengers through ther terminal. They are a nice addition to passengers, but that's all. I grant you there is football traffic crossing the Irish Sea, but the majority would be business, VFR or pure leisure travel, outbound and inbound .

 

Liverpool handled over 5M last year, the majority of that is EZY, FR AND Jet2 not football charters, they do not make up 20-25% of passengers through ther terminal. They are a nice addition to passengers, but that's all. I grant you there is football traffic crossing the Irish Sea, but the majority would be business, VFR or pure leisure travel, outbound and inbound .

Yes and all on the exact same deal Peel was running DSA on, revenue does also include car parking much to the annoyance of people who like to claim otherwise. LPL has critical mass, DSA didn’t, this is in no small part due to catchment area dynamics and the inbound tourism potential of Liverpool.

Liverpool is an internationally renowned destination. I had on occasion been flying into DSA as a passenger and once or twice the airport of origins departure board hadn’t even spelt Doncaster correctly. One of those was Prague many years ago.

 

Just stumbled across this interesting read about DSA.

It's a PDF document.

 

Just stumbled across this interesting read about DSA.

It's a PDF document.

Very interesting indeed, confirming really what we’ve been saying all along, thanks Aviador!

This needs sharing widely.

 

Very interesting indeed, confirming really what we’ve been saying all along, thanks Aviador!

This needs sharing widely.

who commissioned it?

 

who commissioned it?

Probably nobody. It will be their report/comments to the SAU. They are clearly extremely concerned at what is happening and chose to make those concerns known, as others did. This document shows that the arguments put forward on here are not anti DSA nonsense but reality. Some of the claims made by CDC, such as the impact of DSA financially on the economy are total nonsense.

This report is pretty damning and comes from probably the best respected aviation consultancy in the UK. We have already seen this week that Michael O'Leary and Ryanair have no interest in DSA with or without huge subsidies, which appear anyway to be contrary to competition law.

One thing for sure, IF this reopening goes ahead, there isn't a cat in hells chance of commercial flights from Spring 2026.

 

who commissioned it?

More than likely nobody, they are an advisor to the Government and are highly regarded.

Why, what issue do you have now?

 

who commissioned it?

It doesn't really matter who commissioned it. The facts are there for all to see.

 

More than likely nobody, they are an advisor to the Government and are highly regarded.

Why, what issue do you have now?

no issue with it , but it must be somebody ,because it clearly states , they were commisioned to do the report.

 

no issue with it , but it must be somebody ,because it clearly states , they were commisioned to do the report.

Looking at their other reports, they're usually associated with government aviation bumph.

Probably nobody. It will be their report/comments to the SAU. They are clearly extremely concerned at what is happening and chose to make those concerns known, as others did. This document shows that the arguments put forward on here are not anti DSA nonsense but reality. Some of the claims made by CDC, such as the impact of DSA financially on the economy are total nonsense.

This report is pretty damning and comes from probably the best respected aviation consultancy in the UK. We have already seen this week that Michael O'Leary and Ryanair have no interest in DSA with or without huge subsidies, which appear anyway to be contrary to competition law.

One thing for sure, IF this reopening goes ahead, there isn't a cat in hells chance of commercial flights from Spring 2026.

Some really big obstacles highlighted one of which was the requirement for a full runway resurface at of cost of up to £20m That is a big outlay for an airport before the recommencement of flights can begin. It does say remedial works could cost less at 9m but they would likely require the full works to be done at the full cost.

 

Looking at their other reports, they're usually associated with government aviation bumph.

Perhaps they were commissioned by the SAU themselves. They are unlikely to do all the work themselves. It's highly likely that they will employ specialist services to do most of the investigative work and they then produce their response to the submission , which in this case highlighted the concerns raised by York Aviation , but in a 'light touch' way. There are very relevant questions to answer and we will see what happens when CDC provide those answers .......or don't, as the case may be.

What is very clear is that this report is totally rubbishing the claims made in 'selling' a reopened DSA and very much calling into question the integrity of claims made by CDC snd their original advisors.

 

no issue with it , but it must be somebody ,because it clearly states , they were commisioned to do the report.

In that case most likely the SAU themselves or the Government. Coppard claims he has independent specialists ready to review the council’s plans. Wonder whether it will be York?

There was a problem with at least one of the consultants commissioned by CDC with regards to RSP and Manston that has been flagged by York. They used totally irrelevant growth models based on foreign markets. It’s a bit like using assumed footfall projections as evidence for the building of a shopping mall in somewhere like Selby by using the figures of one in London as justification. I think it was based on the US market or something which is inherently different and provides over inflated projections.

Obviously if you’re basing those assumptions on something that’s unattainable your entire financial plan would be irrelevant. That’s what appears to be happening here. The evidence is there, the SAU point out that CDC have failed to identify a reasonable pessimistic growth model to ensure they’re planning for it to not work as planned, which is vital in any investment. What do you do when it doesn’t work? Errr, well it will so…

They’ve basically said it will work so what’s the point in assuming it won’t.

They’ve failed to consider the true regional and national competition issues, York make it clear that the airport wouldn’t just be competing against LBA but it would be competing against every other U.K. airport for allocation of airline resources. MoL was clear it doesn’t feature in their growth plans because ‘there isn’t a traffic base’. He’s said that of his own volition, he’s not interested. Of course he used APD as a way of exerting influence, but he knows they’ll never scrap it, like snack bar said it’s a £4bn revenue earner! But the point is it’s not just York using a counter argument, the evidence is clear.

This information should be widely available. It’s now incumbent on SYMCA and CDC (when they’ve finalised their plans over the next few weeks) and it must be all made clear to the public exactly what they intend to spend their money on. I suspect away from the pressure groups like that ran by Chadwick, there would be a lack of support given the information available, of course Chadwick won’t want you to see this, he won’t want you to see what MoL said. He’ll just say they’re on the books of Peel..

 

who commissioned it?

The anti LBA brigade on the DSA Facebook pages are claiming this report was commissioned by Vincent Hodder. The fact that Rachel Reeves now seems to be supporting expansion at LBA must be making their blood boil as it adds another nail in the coffin in trying to attract both airlines and passengers.

 

The anti LBA brigade on the DSA Facebook pages are claiming this report was commissioned by Vincent Hodder. The fact that Rachel Reeves now seems to be supporting expansion at LBA must be making their blood boil as it adds another nail in the coffin in trying to attract both airlines and passengers.

If it was commissioned by VH they’d surely have to mention that?

I’m surprised they’re not saying it was commissioned by Peel. It’s their usual go-to.

 

The anti LBA brigade on the DSA Facebook pages are claiming this report was commissioned by Vincent Hodder. The fact that Rachel Reeves now seems to be supporting expansion at LBA must be making their blood boil as it adds another nail in the coffin in trying to attract both airlines and passengers.

It's only been posted here this morning, so where did that lot get it from? And when? Very predictable response from them. They're nothing if not predictably anti anything LBA. Idiots.

 

The anti LBA brigade on the DSA Facebook pages are claiming this report was commissioned by Vincent Hodder. The fact that Rachel Reeves now seems to be supporting expansion at LBA must be making their blood boil as it adds another nail in the coffin in trying to attract both airlines and passengers.

I'm not surprised they are claiming that, it says all the things they don't want to read, i.e. DSA isn't going to be profitable, and it's going to cost a heap more money to reopen than anyone touting the idea wants to admit. Do CDC really have anything up to an extra £65M knocking about that they can spend before their opening date aspirations? That's a hell of a lot of money for a council to be punting into a project that's already likely to cost them a nine figure sum over time.

 

It's only been posted here this morning, so where did that lot get it from? And when? Very predictable response from them. They're nothing if not predictably anti anything LBA. Idiots.

It was put on a different DSA Facebook page a few days ago with comments that it had been commissioned by LBA and sent to SAU. I’ve no way of knowing if that’s true or not. It makes for grim reading and only increases my concern that CDC are going to spaff £100m up the wall that could go into far more worthwhile projects.

Unfortunately Chadwick and his merry men are typical of the industrial past of the town and the lack of reality by people who are really not equipped to understand the complexities not to mention their own greed, selfishness and lack of reasonableness means they simply don’t care of other projects cannot go ahead so long as they can land back at DSA when they come back from Benners and be at home after a 15 minute journey. Im embarrassed to be associated with these people in that I am from the same town.

 

It's only been posted here this morning, so where did that lot get it from? And when? Very predictable response from them. They're nothing if not predictably anti anything LBA. Idiots.

The report from York Aviation was on the Doncaster Sheffield Airport DSA Facebook page on the 29 January 2025, whether this was leaked illegally or if it was put out on that day I'm not sure. Whatever, it is a damming report, and something the electorate of Doncaster should be made fully aware of before the May local elections. Ross Jones will be long gone leaving the people the burden of paying for this over many decades.