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...?

 

Breaking News

Mayor to announce international operator to run Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones is expected to tell councillors this week that a well known international operator has been chosen to run Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

 

"35 potential operators whittled down to 2"
I find it hard to believe that there were 35 potential operators. Will we be able to find out who they were after the 'winner' is announced?

 

"35 potential operators whittled down to 2"
I find it hard to believe that there were 35 potential operators. Will we be able to find out who they were after the 'winner' is announced?

Plausible since the contract is apparently worth £100million….

Not sure if the details will be made public on Thursday?

Note some people hoping for AENA. Careful what you wish for. Could be benefits in having a European operator with no current U.K. interests, but it could also go tits up very quickly as witnessed when Vantage failed miserably at the job. Fraport have also been mentioned, jury still out on that one.

I have heard at work today people high up discussing it, not convinced was the general consensus. Caution is vital, but the make up of the partnership is key. If the lions share of the risk rests with the public sector I would be very worried right now, however if the Council have managed to secure a private sector investor who is good to their word and won’t just cut and run, hats off to them and I wish them luck. Beats travelling to MAN for my holidays.

 

Plausible since the contract is apparently worth £100million….

Not sure if the details will be made public on Thursday?

Note some people hoping for AENA. Careful what you wish for. Could be benefits in having a European operator with no current U.K. interests, but it could also go tits up very quickly as witnessed when Vantage failed miserably at the job. Fraport have also been mentioned, jury still out on that one.

I have heard at work today people high up discussing it, not convinced was the general consensus. Caution is vital, but the make up of the partnership is key. If the lions share of the risk rests with the public sector I would be very worried right now, however if the Council have managed to secure a private sector investor who is good to their word and won’t just cut and run, hats off to them and I wish them luck. Beats travelling to MAN for my holidays.

Just to add to the rumours apparently LH and U2 are nailed on first one is highly doubtful and the second I know is going elsewhere this side of the Pennines…..

 

Just to add to the rumours apparently LH and U2 are nailed on first one is highly doubtful and the second I know is going elsewhere this side of the Pennines…..

In fairness there is probably time for change with regards U2. LH questionable but I think Peel were attempting to score a PSO to FRA a few years ago with BmiR. Obviously it never came to anything but there is probably enough industry in Yorkshire to support such a link up.

Just playing devils advocate, I’ve heard the U2 stuff also but it’s not happening til it’s announced publicly in my experience. What it might do is hasten LBA to agree commercial terms with whoever they might be in advanced discussions with. No doubting TUI would go back to DSA in a heartbeat if they can source the capacity to do so.

 

Update - there will be no announcement at Full Council tomorrow as to the identity of the preferred operator, apparently just a general update on process.

Quite hilarious seeing some of the rubbish being spouted elsewhere….

 

I have just realised that it is 2 years this Saturday since the announcement of the "Strategic Review". It took 4 months to close the airport, how long to reopen it?

 

LH, DSA-FRA.. cant wait to see that fly out empty everyday.

if i remember correctly BMI Regional before they went bust was starting up LBA-FRA. shame that never got a chance

Can anybody link me to where these U2 & LH rumours are coming from? or is it the clueless fans on save dsa page?

 

I wonder if the mayor / council sent this as a release of information to the press, then it’s legal department reminded them that they have gone into a cool off period , and cannot announce the successful bidder until the cool off period has finished. This allows other bidders to make any legal challenges around the procurement process prior to the public release of the successful bidder.

 

I wonder if the mayor / council sent this as a release of information to the press, then it’s legal department reminded them that they have gone into a cool off period , and cannot announce the successful bidder until the cool off period has finished. This allows other bidders to make any legal challenges around the procurement process prior to the public release of the successful bidder.

Don’t think that will be the case, I haven’t seen any mention as to where it came from in any of the articles, in fact it stated that the Full Council were to be briefed but they wouldn’t make the operator public.. Seemed a bit contradictory since the council meetings are I believe (could be wrong) public. Indeed the agenda pack is available and after a brief scan last night I saw no mention of the airport whatsoever within it.

Was shown today posts on Facebook by someone purporting to be ‘crew’ at what looks like STN claiming to have a WhatsApp group full of commercially sensitive information. For anyone who has ever been a member of any such WhatsApp group, they would know that those are never reliable sources of information for any as yet unannounced company plans. They tend to be full of people trying to switch rosters, minor gripes about rosters and work in general, and the odd meme for good humour. Your average line crew are usually the last to know anything, actually they’d most likely rant about that on said WhatsApp group after the facf!!

Not suggesting it’s tied to this spurious news item, but it’s worth pointing out that whoever is posting this stuff is most definitely not ‘in the know’ about anything,

 

Don’t think that will be the case, I haven’t seen any mention as to where it came from in any of the articles, in fact it stated that the Full Council were to be briefed but they wouldn’t make the operator public.. Seemed a bit contradictory since the council meetings are I believe (could be wrong) public. Indeed the agenda pack is available and after a brief scan last night I saw no mention of the airport whatsoever within it.

Was shown today posts on Facebook by someone purporting to be ‘crew’ at what looks like STN claiming to have a WhatsApp group full of commercially sensitive information. For anyone who has ever been a member of any such WhatsApp group, they would know that those are never reliable sources of information for any as yet unannounced company plans. They tend to be full of people trying to switch rosters, minor gripes about rosters and work in general, and the odd meme for good humour. Your average line crew are usually the last to know anything!!

Not suggesting it’s tied to this spurious news item, but it’s worth pointing out that whoever is posting this stuff is most definitely not ‘in the know’ about anything,

Ahh perhaps just the newspaper running on stuff they have read in the groups then, thanks for the clarification

 

LH, DSA-FRA.. cant wait to see that fly out empty everyday.

if i remember correctly BMI Regional before they went bust was starting up LBA-FRA. shame that never got a chance

Can anybody link me to where these U2 & LH rumours are coming from? or is it the clueless fans on save dsa page?

Think BMIR were about to start LBA-MUC rather than FRA but either way just cannot see it working from DSA. It all continues to drag on and on and must be getting more and more difficult as a result. It was difficult enough as it was well before any ongoing time delays

 

Think BMIR were about to start LBA-MUC rather than FRA but either way just cannot see it working from DSA. It all continues to drag on and on and must be getting more and more difficult as a result. It was difficult enough as it was well before any ongoing time delays

I understand MUC is better than FRA for interlining, could be wrong.

Agree it does drag on, suppose nothing was ever going to happen over night. Not sure what support they are expecting from the new National Government, perhaps commitment to the funding? But this airspace thing seems to be dragging on, I’m of the opinion that the CAA are showing good grace and holding off any further ACP until they know what’s happening with regards to reopening. Interesting to note that they admitted a few years ago that they should not have permitted the CAS at DSA in the first place…

 

LH, DSA-FRA.. cant wait to see that fly out empty everyday.

if i remember correctly BMI Regional before they went bust was starting up LBA-FRA. shame that never got a chance

Can anybody link me to where these U2 & LH rumours are coming from? or is it the clueless fans on save dsa page?

It’s all on the Doncaster Sheffield airport - blog Facebook page. Quite funny really - apparently they are getting their information from flight crew, friends and families involved with the bid process and merchant bankers! Of course all these parties would be privy to highly confidential commercial information and be willing to share it freely
What they actually don’t realise is that if any of this is remotely true they run the risk of de-railing the procurement process!

 

EasyJet and Lufthansa? Come on. There's just no way. Easyjet tried DSA before and failed. There's no way they'd go back knowing what a disaster it was the first time round. Lufthansa, well they've been serving Liverpool but I'm pretty sure they've just thrown in the towel there, so if you think they'd leave an established airport handling over 4mppa to go to a restart airport with a 20 years record of failure. Don't make me laugh.

 

EasyJet and Lufthansa? Come on. There's just no way. Easyjet tried DSA before and failed. There's no way they'd go back knowing what a disaster it was the first time round. Lufthansa, well they've been serving Liverpool but I'm pretty sure they've just thrown in the towel there, so if you think they'd leave an established airport handling over 4mppa to go to a restart airport with a 20 years record of failure. Don't make me laugh.

Easyjet is plausible if they went in properly and actually opened a 3 aircraft base from the start. Why they didn’t before is open to interpretation, but it certainly wasn’t down to cost! Of course, if the rumours are true and they open another local base then that easyjet DSA base won’t be happening,

 

At the April LBA Consultative Committee, the CEO updated attendees regarding efforts to attract new operators. He was confident that new airlines would be announced soon but specifically stated that whilst LBA have approached Lufthansa, and the airline are very much aware of the development plans there, they have a policy of operating from airports which generally have an annual throughput of at least 5m per annum. If there's even an ounce of truth in that it's hard to see Lufthansa even remotely considering DSA given they are not (yet) interested in LBA, despite the total absence of flights to Germany from East of the Pennines.

 

At the April LBA Consultative Committee, the CEO updated attendees regarding efforts to attract new operators. He was confident that new airlines would be announced soon but specifically stated that whilst LBA have approached Lufthansa, and the airline are very much aware of the development plans there, they have a policy of operating from airports which generally have an annual throughput of 5m per annum. If there's even an ounce if truth in that it's hard to see Lufthansa even remotely considering DSA given they are not (yet) interested in LBA, despite the total absence of flights to Germany from East of the Pennines.

That would make sense, it’s probably their way of at least trying to guarantee some success by judging the general demand of a partoculsr airports catchment area.

KLM really are a gem in that respect, and do seem to appreciate the importance of offering a reliable service to people in the regions who can then help to shore up support for a greater number of long haul destinations from AMS. I do fear for that now too though.. They seem to be distancing themselves from it a bit.

 

It’s all on the Doncaster Sheffield airport - blog Facebook page. Quite funny really - apparently they are getting their information from flight crew, friends and families involved with the bid process and merchant bankers! Of course all these parties would be privy to highly confidential commercial information and be willing to share it freely
What they actually don’t realise is that if any of this is remotely true they run the risk of de-railing the procurement process!

Yes rumours from cabin crew / flight deck that have zero exposure to commercially sensitive talks/negotiations. What they don’t know they make it. Galley Gossip it’s called in the industry.

 

Yes rumours from cabin crew / flight deck that have zero exposure to commercially sensitive talks/negotiations. What they don’t know they make it. Galley Gossip it’s called in the industry.

Galley FM. On the rare occasions it’s not just spreading salacious gossip but also some industry rumours, even senior members of flight deck and cabin crew are also not averse to wild rumours too! Heard all sorts over the years.

When LPL was announced as a base for Jet2 there were a lot of bewildered (and a couple even annoyed) flight crew who were told under no uncertain terms that LPL would not be a base just days before it was announced.