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...?

 

Yes, after listening to his speech and tv interview I thought he had seen some sense, and realised passengers are not viable as a model, so they will go down GA route of some sort etc, with some sort of business plan. Now listening to this, he alludes to it going ahead but simply being phased

I think he’s under constant start pressure to be positive about it. That’s the impression I’m getting anyway.

This trip to Gatwick begs the question though, why are MAI not qualified to make those statements? They’ve apparently been brought in as Subject Matter Experts, why not actually use them to promote the project? Their silence is deafening right now and that suggests to me there may be something in this MAI parting company rumour.

You can’t just sack everyone for not sharing your ‘vision’, because it sets a dangerous precedent. So where is the ‘big name operator’ that was promised back in February? Does this tie in with the additional funding granted for ‘assurance works’ last month?

 

I think he’s under constant start pressure to be positive about it. That’s the impression I’m getting anyway.

This trip to Gatwick begs the question though, why are MAI not qualified to make those statements? They’ve apparently been brought in as Subject Matter Experts, why not actually use them to promote the project? Their silence is deafening right now and that suggests to me there may be something in this MAI parting company rumour.

You can’t just sack everyone for not sharing your ‘vision’, because it sets a dangerous precedent. So where is the ‘big name operator’ that was promised back in February? Does this tie in with the additional funding granted for ‘assurance works’ last month?

It’s Routes world in just over 3 weeks across in Hong Kong - let’s see if there is any news on MAI there - I very much suspect there won’t be…….

 

The jist from what I'm getting from comments that Coppard has made this past month or so is.

The Business Plan that CDC put together had included other stuff unrelated to the direct Lease Zone. This meant it put all the figures out by a considerable margin. (This is due to Coppard saying he is looking at it as two separate projects Airport City & Airport.) Which meant having to look further and deeper than what he was given. That Lease Zone figures currently do not stack up to be a viable option and are frantically trying to find solution to get the numbers to stack up, but more time is required for that to happen.

Coppard saying a decision might not even be made on 9th September, it could be further in the future.

MAI having been involved with the project put their own post up in February this year on their own Facebook page about being involved with the DSA project. So MAI having removed that post from their own Facebook page. Can only mean that they are soon to be or are no longer involved with the DSA project. If they were still involved then there would be no need to remove the post. So that says the outcome of their involvement.

The Lease that CDC agreed with Peel has an annual rent of somewhere in the region of £4m.

So before any other operational costs are included you have a £4m addition to add to the costs.

This is more than likely where it is all breaking down, the Lease Payments are crippling the figures.

Peel will likely be more than happy with the Lease deal arrangements agreed and won't be looking at renegotiating, even if SYMCA wants it renegotiating to be able to bring it down to be able to get a break even.

So SYMCA are more than likely finding it very difficult to get figures and stats to add upto what is required that was agreed in the Lease Arrangements between Peel & CDC. So SYMCA are finding it hard to meet requirement goals set out in the agreed Lease Arrangements.

All the above are my thoughts that comes from just my observations standing from afar that have been garnered through public comments and articles from the main people/ companies/ authorities involved and from no inside knowledge. Whilst having understandings of various processes that are involved in such as what is seen through knowledge garnered over four decades.

 

@Stagman i think you’re probably correct in most of that, but Coppard has given his cast iron guarantee that a decision will be made on 9th September in the interview that @Egyptian King shared earlier on today. I think given the care he’s been taking to manage expectations he would not give such a commitment if there was a chance of further delays to the decisions.

The lease is obviously a point of contention. It may not just be the payments that are the problem, I don’t think it’s £4million per year, it may average out at that over the terms of the lease but I believe it’s around half of that at the moment but open to be proven wrong. Where it may be an issue is if there are terms attached to the lease that would require performance targets to be met over and above just making payments on time. This has been suggested previously and it’s something that may well factor into the agreement. Peel have acres of land that need to pay their way, there has clearly been good will and a genuine keenness for this to work for all parties but in return Peel will want to ensure that the very best use of Gateway East is achieved. If SYMCA/CDC are adamant that this must involve ‘Sustainable Aviation Industry’ then it will require such companies to get on board otherwise Peel may lose patience with the whole thing. They won’t want swathes of land sitting empty whilst this industrial cluster materialises. Conversely they may not be too keen on talk of recovering the costs of the airport through business rate retention, because this will invariable make the area less competitive for investment when compared to places like EMA which are a Freeport.

So forgetting the cynicism of whether the core airline/freight companies are interested, the airport city concept will have a number of interdependencies and if one falters the others fail. I can understand the strategic value in what Coppard is trying to achieve here but I think in doing so he’s actually ironically potentially making it harder to justify.

Is the airport viable - yes or no? Is a ‘sustainable aviation cluster’ likely to develop in any scaleable form? Yes or no? Is the Gateway East development just going to end up with more non aviation logistics related industry with housing and retail? Yes or no?

 

This was the radio interview, ibteresting past 5 minutes when a question calls out Labour

Interesting that in this interview, OC gave that assurance a decision would be taken on the 9th, yet in the YP interview, he indicated it might not be.

Based on this interview, OC is powerless to prevent the money being approved if the leaders of the individual councils vote to go ahead. I find that hard to believe. Clearly the CDC Mayor will vote to go ahead come hell or high water, so he's effectively saying that the leaders of Sheffield, Barnsley snd Rotherham are the ones who ultimately will make the difference. Yet none, it would seem, yet have sight of the full facts and 'negotiations' are ongoing on a daily basis. It all sounds frantic. It seems like they are trying every way they can to manipulate the figures to justify the reopening.

Having listened to this interview, with a more 'aggressive' interviewer, and the YP Q&A where OC was never really challenged, and every respose was apparentky 'brilliant' there are definite variations in the message he is giving. The YP event had a far more negative feel than this radio interview, yet they were done on or about the same day?

 

@Stagman i think you’re probably correct in most of that, but Coppard has given his cast iron guarantee that a decision will be made on 9th September in the interview that @Egyptian King shared earlier on today. I think given the care he’s been taking to manage expectations he would not give such a commitment if there was a chance of further delays to the decisions.

Have you watched the Yorkshire Post interview on 27th August. Just over 3 minutes into it when asked about the 9th September date.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16HUZt5Juy/

Coppard "We have got it in for a key decision on the 9th September, that's not to say it will definitely happen on the 9th of September just to make people aware of that. We are trying to make that decision as soon as possible and it could be that we take an extraordinary meeting at a future date, because we are still working through the problem."

So Coppard is saying there is no cast iron guarantee that a decision will be made on 9th September. .

 

Have you watched the Yorkshire Post interview on 27th August. Just over 3 minutes into it when asked about the 9th September date.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16HUZt5Juy/

Coppard "We have got it in for a key decision on the 9th September, that's not to say it will definitely happen on the 9th of September just to make people aware of that. We are trying to make that decision as soon as possible and it could be that we take an extraordinary meeting at a future date, because we are still working through the problem."

So Coppard is saying there is no cast iron guarantee that a decision will be made on 9th September. .

I admit I only caught the last half. However this proves a direct contradiction because if you watch his BBC Radio Sheffield interview as linked to above he does say the decision will definitely be made either way on 9th September. He could of course say it’s a dynamic situation and therefore things change but if the BBC interview was on the same day or within a day of the YP Q&A it does raise questions as to how far along they really are in the process. Wonder if that LGW vid was always going to be released around now or whether it was recorded with a release date after a positive decision was in mind but it’s been released early to counter the negative news. Seems to me this is the case, though the narrative around that was of rather than when so perhaps not.

Far too many mixed messages to be able to decipher.

 

Have you watched the Yorkshire Post interview on 27th August. Just over 3 minutes into it when asked about the 9th September date.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16HUZt5Juy/

Coppard "We have got it in for a key decision on the 9th September, that's not to say it will definitely happen on the 9th of September just to make people aware of that. We are trying to make that decision as soon as possible and it could be that we take an extraordinary meeting at a future date, because we are still working through the problem."

So Coppard is saying there is no cast iron guarantee that a decision will be made on 9th September. .

"Still working through the problem...."

I nearly spat coffee over my screen reading that! He's not kidding, they want to spend £150M+ on an airport that has no facilities, no staff, no controlled airspace, no interest in investment from the aviation industry, and no airlines even close to committing to it. But there's this mechanic guy, a few hundred vocal social media followers, and a business plan written with large Crayolas that predicts returns from investment of over 9:1. I mean what problems could they possibly be still working on....??

Get ready for some serious can kicking folks!

 

"Still working through the problem...."

I nearly spat coffee over my screen reading that! He's not kidding, they want to spend £150M+ on an airport that has no facilities, no staff, no controlled airspace, no interest in investment from the aviation industry, and no airlines even close to committing to it. But there's this mechanic guy, a few hundred vocal social media followers, and a business plan written with large Crayolas that predicts returns from investment of over 9:1. I mean what problems could they possibly be still working on....??

Get ready for some serious can kicking folks!

The ROI ‘isn’t as high as they originally believed’. No sh*t. Perhaps that was the purpose of the visit to LGW, not just to see what they do but to get an idea of the sort of size and operation needs to be to see those sort of returns.

I think if there’s another delay to the final decision it would cause a complete breakdown in confidence so they’ll be careful not to. I still think he’s building everyone up for a yes vote with the 1000 page report being sent out on Monday to the people who get a vote on it. That’s little over a week to digest a lot of information! Call me a cynic but what politician is going to spend time reading all that? They’ll just skip to the executive summary and not bother getting bogged down in the small print!

 

The ROI ‘isn’t as high as they originally believed’. No sh*t.

This kind of invites the question - what was the basis for their original beliefs? An awful lot of people have been stirred up by the promises of easy wins and supposed mismanagement under Peel.

Why did they think this wasn’t going to be difficult? What was the evidence? Because the only evidence I saw was that a highly experienced infrastructure company had managed to lose £10m/year for 18 years, despite paying a parade of airlines to give it a go.

 

This kind of invites the question - what was the basis for their original beliefs? An awful lot of people have been stirred up by the promises of easy wins and supposed mismanagement under Peel.

Why did they think this wasn’t going to be difficult? What was the evidence? Because the only evidence I saw was that a highly experienced infrastructure company had managed to lose £10m/year for 18 years, despite paying a parade of airlines to give it a go.

Simple, I’ve seen comments from people in positions similar to yourself recently claiming that Peel didn’t ‘love’ the airlines but the airlines ‘loved’ DSA. If those comments are reaching people like Coppard then hey, they have credible aviation experts confirming that Peel mismanaged it. This is a potential problem, they may know some stuff, but as you’ll be aware matters commercial and matters operational are often worlds apart and things can get lost in translation and/or Chinese whispers happen. But I do believe this is why they don’t believe Peel ran it properly and so they want to start from scratch.

As for the ROI, no idea. Could have been plucked from thin air for all we know because nobody has bothered to release this information for wider scrutiny, I’ve said in the past that they haven’t contextualised the supposed GVA, because if they did then based on their own estimates theyd find it contributed less to the region than an industrial estate in Thorne!

 

Simple, I’ve seen comments from people in positions similar to yourself recently claiming that Peel didn’t ‘love’ the airlines but the airlines ‘loved’ DSA. If those comments are reaching people like Coppard then hey, they have credible aviation experts confirming that Peel mismanaged it. This is a potential problem, they may know some stuff, but as you’ll be aware matters commercial and matters operational are often worlds apart and things can get lost in translation and/or Chinese whispers happen. But I do believe this is why they don’t believe Peel ran it properly and so they want to start from scratch.

As for the ROI, no idea. Could have been plucked from thin air for all we know because nobody has bothered to release this information for wider scrutiny, I’ve said in the past that they haven’t contextualised the supposed GVA, because if they did then based on their own estimates theyd find it contributed less to the region than an industrial estate in Thorne!

Well the mayor has confirmed that the Cost Benefit Ratio of £9 for every £1 spent were wide of the mark “it isn’t that big but it still more than £1”. Well if it’s more than £1, it’s ok then . Taken from this article Insidermedia

 

Well the mayor has confirmed that the Cost Benefit Ratio of £9 for every £1 spent were wide of the mark “it isn’t that big but it still more than £1”. Well if it’s more than £1, it’s ok then . Taken from this article Insidermedia

I suppose an ROI of 1.01:1 doesn’t sound as good does it. Noticed he said South Yorkshire is a big market for low cost airlines. I beg to differ, there’s evidence.

Ignoring the spiel from the Regurge bloke, an interesting statement made on behalf of Ros Jones in the following article;

Reform UK leader accuses Ros Jones of misleading local people over Doncaster Airport

The Reform UK leader on the City of Doncaster Council has accused Mayor Ros Jones of misleading local people over when to expect passenger flights from Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk

Now claiming they’re aiming for a launch of passenger flights in winter 26/7. Who advised her on this I wonder? Who advised that freight would be possible before passenger flights if the problem is one of licensing and certification? Pretty sure most air freight carriers are just as risk averse when it comes to opening up routes, particularly when there’s a fully functioning H24 airport specialising in cargo just down the road.

 

The latest in the same paper, Oliver Coppard and Ros Jones had known for weeks that flights would be 2028, is that before or after the election and before or after both Ros and the mechanic said on 25 June that flights were Spring 2026

 

So everything that's been forecast on here, numerous times, is coming to pass. The mechanic has frequently thrown the teddy out of the pram citing sour grapes. Perhaps now he should start to take more notice of us than the politicians who have clearly misled people prior to the elections and then kept quiet about what was becoming obvious to them, and has been obvious to many on here for the past 2 years.

The interviews and articles in recent days have themselves shown inconsistencies in what people are being told. Two days ago, OC said 2028 for flights starting (at the earliest). Now RJ says 6 months earlier. So which is it? She hasn't a clue.

I wouldn't trust anything they say.

 

this is from OC

“I think the model that was first used to run the airport wasn’t effective at making the airport profitable,” he said, “That’s not to criticise the owners, we’re past that point, I want to build a positive relationship with Peel… they are the land-owners.

“We’re also the public sector, not the private sector, so the idea that this is all just about profit isn’t the same and the idea that you’ve got to do that in a short-term way is not the same.

“We’ve got to take a long-term view about what it contributes to the whole economy of South Yorkshire. If we’re trying to build a sustainable aviation hub then it’s got to have an airport at the heart of it.
“We have to take a more holistic view and a longer-term view, so this isn’t all about the profit and loss account in the first three years in the way it needs to be sometimes for a private sector model.

at one of the forums some one asked how can dorset , with half the population of south yorkshire, have two airports within a 30 minute drive of each other, have between them half the passengers DSA carried, and still be viable and DSA not? they also have the most active airports in the uk to travel to in less time than it does to get from DSA to manchester airport.

 

What @White Heather said. If they’re referring to Dorset then I believe there is only one airport, but yes the South Coast conurbation does have two airports though note that the success of Bournemouth has been at the detriment to Southampton which lost its major airline when FlyBe went bust. It’s also a far wealthier region than South Yorkshire with a propensity to fly to match that additional wealth. Even then Bournemouth is actually not performing the best on some routes and there is chopping and changing going on with programs to try to maximise it. Bournemouth also has a strong aviation cluster.

Coppard should really be careful with his words here in my opinion. He’s clearly saying that profit/loss isn’t as important, but in doing so he’s effectively telling the private sector competition that not only are they looking to grant public funds which constitute a subsidy but also that, well, it doesn’t matter if they don’t make money in the way a private sector airport does. This constitutes market distortion.

@rabbitfoot would you mind providing links to sources when providing lengthy direct quotes?

 

It’s Routes world in just over 3 weeks across in Hong Kong - let’s see if there is any news on MAI there - I very much suspect there won’t be…….

This is typical politician nonsense. Between them, SOU and BOU had considerably more passengers in 2024 than DSA ever managed, even at its peak. He's quoting someone's claim, which is wrong, without bothering to check the facts. In 2024 , SOU had 900k passengers, whereas BOU had passed 1m by November 2024, so ckearky exceeded that. Both have expansion plans and both have other things going on that keep them viable. Neither have been closed for 3 years, there's no other nearby airport, and it's one of the richest areas of the UK.

The guy is obviously positioning for a business case which is marginal at best…His comments about the public sector and airport ownership is nonsense- you only need to look at the questions now being asked about Cardiff and Teesside airports which continues to leak tax payers cash….

 

What @White Heather said. If they’re referring to Dorset then I believe there is only one airport, but yes the South Coast conurbation does have two airports though note that the success of Bournemouth has been at the detriment to Southampton which lost its major airline when FlyBe went bust. It’s also a far wealthier region than South Yorkshire with a propensity to fly to match that additional wealth. Even then Bournemouth is actually not performing the best on some routes and there is chopping and changing going on with programs to try to maximise it. Bournemouth also has a strong aviation cluster.

Coppard should really be careful with his words here in my opinion. He’s clearly saying that profit/loss isn’t as important, but in doing so he’s effectively telling the private sector competition that not only are they looking to grant public funds which constitute a subsidy but also that, well, it doesn’t matter if they don’t make money in the way a private sector airport does. This constitutes market distortion.

@rabbitfoot would you mind providing links to sources when providing lengthy direct quotes?

I agree.

Apologies but whilst correcting a spelling typo (predictive text strikes again) I accidentally deleted my previous post. Note to self: Find spectacles!

Anyway, my point had been that OC should check facts before quoting others in case those facts are incorrect, which they were. In 2024, Bournemouth exceeded 1m passengers, having reached that milestone in November, whilst Southampton had 900k passengers. Together, they exceeded the best year at DSA.

I also pointed out, as @pug has, that this area of the country is one of the UKs richest (with a greater propensity to fly). There are no other airports nearby. The next nearest is LGW. Neither has spent the past 3 years nearly, closed, so effectively starting again from scratch. In a nutshell, it's a pointless comparison..

 

I agree.

Apologies but whilst correcting a spelling typo (predictive text strikes again) I accidentally deleted my previous post. Note to self: Find spectacles!

Anyway, my point had been that OC should check facts before quoting others in case those facts are incorrect, which they were. In 2024, Bournemouth exceeded 1m passengers, having reached that milestone in November, whilst Southampton had 900k passengers. Together, they exceeded the best year at DSA.

I also pointed out, as @pug has, that this area of the country is one of the UKs richest (with a greater propensity to fly). There are no other airports nearby. The next nearest is LGW. Neither has spent the past 3 years nearly, closed, so effectively starting again from scratch. In a nutshell, it's a pointless comparison..

I think @rabbitfoot was quoting Coppard in only part of their post. The last paragraph was from a discussion on another forum regarding the ability of Dorset to support two airports so South Yorkshire can by that logic support one. Don’t believe this is something Coppard has said.