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...?

 

What needs to happen to turn around Cardiff Airport?

In this opinion piece, former Cardiff Airport director Andrew Sargent argues the Welsh Government needs a new approach to the troubled business

www.walesonline.co.uk

Interesting opinion piece by a former CWL airport director. Striking similarities with DSA, although crucially CWL is still open for business and has a more diverse range of carriers than DSA did.

GVA is a red herring? Certainly to any ‘investor’ it will be, local Government using it as a justification for investing £millions but all any investor would want to see is a return on their investment. This will be the current challenge, CDC will be wanting to protect their future investment obligations and an investor will be wanting/needing to be certain of a return otherwise it won’t happen. Or, we won’t see an investor at all, just an operator who could walk away at any time.

 

CDC have submitted a new ACP to the CAA.

Airspace change proposal public view

Find details of proposed changes to UK airspace that could affect you.

airspacechange.caa.co.uk

This is a pre-emptive measure as the CAA have rejected the request to call in to the Government.

 

Still no news, maybe this week….? We await with bated breath.

I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff on various social media posts recently, some of which personal due to certain people’s supposed affiliations to LBA. This does need to stop. Funnily enough the person posting it has a scant grasp on the reality of the situation at LBA and its impact on a reopened DSA.

Meanwhile people claiming to be in the know still by posting a load of words - enough so that at least some will stick so they can then say they ‘told you so’.

Since I have no idea what’s going on in the council halls, and since it’s unlikely much information has been leaked, even by loose lipped Council officials pissed up in some Doncaster bar, all we can do is look at what the competition are doing..

So recently Easyjet announced another new route from LBA, this time to CDG at just 2x weekly. Not much I know, but it’s an increase in presence and shows at least there is some intent there. Could a new operator for DSA swoop in and make them an offer they can’t refuse (and somehow magically create enough passenger use age to make it viable) and open a 3 aircraft base at DSA from the off? We know TUI would go back, but it didn’t do much for the bottom line last time did it?

Given LBA CEO insistence that Wizzair are happy at LBA and are seeing stronger route performance from there when compared with DSA, I think we can say with some confidence that they won’t be back. We know they are paying more to fly from there than they did DSA, and that MME were trying to get them in with all sorts of support packages that they declined. Apparently HUY said no straight out. It’s no use company load factors as a benchmark for success without actually looking at how they were across the network compared with DSA/LBA. I know when easyjet last used DSA for passenger services their load factors fell way below the company standard of 85% at that time.

If they can appoint an operator that CAN bring in significant business then again they will have my support. But I think it’ll be smoother folly and in that case I hope the operators they are talking to have had some honest chats with the council execs as to what exactly they can expect. It will not be the Heathrow of the North, and it will cost a lot of money to get it into a competitive position with the very real risk of little to no return.

 

Still no news, maybe this week….? We await with bated breath.

I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff on various social media posts recently, some of which personal due to certain people’s supposed affiliations to LBA. This does need to stop. Funnily enough the person posting it has a scant grasp on the reality of the situation at LBA and its impact on a reopened DSA.

Meanwhile people claiming to be in the know still by posting a load of words - enough so that at least some will stick so they can then say they ‘told you so’.

Since I have no idea what’s going on in the council halls, and since it’s unlikely much information has been leaked, even by loose lipped Council officials pissed up in some Doncaster bar, all we can do is look at what the competition are doing..

So recently Easyjet announced another new route from LBA, this time to CDG at just 2x weekly. Not much I know, but it’s an increase in presence and shows at least there is some intent there. Could a new operator for DSA swoop in and make them an offer they can’t refuse (and somehow magically create enough passenger use age to make it viable) and open a 3 aircraft base at DSA from the off? We know TUI would go back, but it didn’t do much for the bottom line last time did it?

Given LBA CEO insistence that Wizzair are happy at LBA and are seeing stronger route performance from there when compared with DSA, I think we can say with some confidence that they won’t be back. We know they are paying more to fly from there than they did DSA, and that MME were trying to get them in with all sorts of support packages that they declined. Apparently HUY said no straight out. It’s no use company load factors as a benchmark for success without actually looking at how they were across the network compared with DSA/LBA. I know when easyjet last used DSA for passenger services their load factors fell way below the company standard of 85% at that time.

If they can appoint an operator that CAN bring in significant business then again they will have my support. But I think it’ll be smoother folly and in that case I hope the operators they are talking to have had some honest chats with the council execs as to what exactly they can expect. It will not be the Heathrow of the North, and it will cost a lot of money to get it into a competitive position with the very real risk of little to no return.

Clearly some very hard negotiations for CDC - as has been alluded to previously, the 'Operator(s)' are not in it for the benefit of the folk of Doncaster, they are in it to make a bob or too and in my opinion hence the delay. One assumes there is only a certain amount CDC can afford in order to subsidise the opening and first couple of years and maybe that is the sticking point.
I also have noticed some quite vitriolic anti LBA posts which are pointless in the extreme and will not help get DSA re-opened but I guess it vents frustration for some folk. In my opinion, whilst LBA is no doubt a factor going forward, to my mind these folk would be better focusing on what I see is the main 'all round' competition at EMA.

 

Clearly some very hard negotiations for CDC - as has been alluded to previously, the 'Operator(s)' are not in it for the benefit of the folk of Doncaster, they are in it to make a bob or too and in my opinion hence the delay. One assumes there is only a certain amount CDC can afford in order to subsidise the opening and first couple of years and maybe that is the sticking point.
I also have noticed some quite vitriolic anti LBA posts which are pointless in the extreme and will not help get DSA re-opened but I guess it vents frustration for some folk. In my opinion, whilst LBA is no doubt a factor going forward, to my mind these folk would be better focusing on what I see is the main 'all round' competition at EMA.

I can only see it progressing with some serious concessions on behalf of the Council and possibly even Peel. If an operator is to invest they will need some real estate to develop in order to subsidise the airport operations. The push on airspace is probably something CDC see as a controllable, I doubt it’s a deal breaker but could be something the operators that are apparently still in the race are using as a bargaining chip.

We can’t forget that once a preferred partner is selected the full business case must be submitted which has to satisfy all the criteria for public funding release, I imagine that’s not a straightforward task particularly when the business has failed previously!

 

The question is how much money is going to be available if the Government are pulling the draw strings on the HS2 funding. As they look to reinstate HS2 project in full. So if available funding is going to be reduced then will the sums still add up for Finningley.

 

The question is how much money is going to be available if the Government are pulling the draw strings on the HS2 funding. As they look to reinstate HS2 project in full. So if available funding is going to be reduced then will the sums still add up for Finningley.

Think it’s from a separate pot but not sure if that pot has been ring fenced. I would assume it has, and given that it’s a Labour Council approaching a Labour mayoral authority which is granting funding on behalf of a Labour Government, I think it has the best chance politically of success on that front. The idea is inject the cash to stimulate the economy, which is flawed in this case but if they have the nonsense stats by some consultancy firm I expect it will be supported. My question would be on how solid the business plan from the operator will be, and whether this operator is confident it can be a success or whether, as I fully expect, the airport will suffer the same fundamental problems that Mk.1 did.. They will have to be complicit with the CDC assumptions of growth of the business, if they aren’t then it could cause conflict wrt actually receiving the funding.

 

So let’s put x amount of millions into something that has struggled before, and in the same breath not have enough cash to support desperate pensioners via winter fuel allowances. Hmm, I think Labour may have some of their priorities wrong……

 

So let’s put x amount of millions into something that has struggled before, and in the same breath not have enough cash to support desperate pensioners via winter fuel allowances. Hmm, I think Labour may have some of their priorities wrong……

Well let’s not forget it was 2jags that approved it first time around. Not because it was needed (they actually conceded that it wasn’t needed!) but cos it was investment in a Labour supporting area.

Don’t get me wrong, this latest government are better than the last shower by a long shot, but they too will have their agendas. One conflicting one possibly is house building…. just think about that one for a minute, where else could you get some now flat well drained land with good links to the motorway network?

 

One conflicting one possibly is house building…. just think about that one for a minute, where else could you get some now flat well drained land with good links to the motorway network?

But for house building you need building sand. Hmm, where has vast quantities of the stuff and has easy access to the road/ rail network. Certainly plenty of scope for other uses if they fail to come to an agreement.

 

But for house building you need building sand. Hmm, where has vast quantities of the stuff and has easy access to the road/ rail network. Certainly plenty of scope for other uses if they fail to come to an agreement.

True, it was heard by some Peel bod at the public enquiry that they could make more in aggregate. And no, before anyone says otherwise that was NOT their intention, they wouldn’t have sunk £250milliin into it. They wanted the airport to drive the change on the entire eastern side of the M18 to increase land value exponentially whilst creating a large employment generator. Unfortunately it was less Stansted and more Manston and a dead weight.

I don’t care what anyone says, they could quite easily turn the land over for housing after removing the runway. Would yield far more and provide a significant economic boost if it was tied in with light industry, R&D and employment,

 

True, it was heard by some Peel bod at the public enquiry that they could make more in aggregate. And no, before anyone says otherwise that was NOT their intention, they wouldn’t have sunk £250milliin into it. They wanted the airport to drive the change on the entire eastern side of the M18 to increase land value exponentially whilst creating a large employment generator. Unfortunately it was less Stansted and more Manston and a dead weight.

I don’t care what anyone says, they could quite easily turn the land over for housing after removing the runway. Would yield far more and provide a significant economic boost if it was tied in with light industry, R&D and employment,

there is too much infrastructure in other sites around doncaster to ever make it viable to build houses there at the moment. i mention in an earlier post the Harworth group ( peel as major stake in) was building 15,000 houses at the old colliery site near the iport, but i believe that as been scaled back to 5,000 as CDC as other sites they would like developed.

maybe someone could be attracted to doncaster who wants to fly at night?
joke.
i hope the delay is due to both parties making sure it is going to work.
i would like the guy to run it who did the article pug posted about cardiff airport.

 

maybe someone could be attracted to doncaster who wants to fly at night?
joke.

I've been waiting for you...

 

I've been waiting for you...

View attachment 31312

Leeds City Council has announced it has rejected Leeds Bradford Airport's controversial proposal, known as a CLEUD, which would have allowed older and noisier aircraft to operate at night.

and i did say joke, but while we are here any updates on rail station at LBA?

 

Leeds City Council has announced it has rejected Leeds Bradford Airport's controversial proposal, known as a CLEUD, which would have allowed older and noisier aircraft to operate at night.

and i did say joke, but while we are here any updates on rail station at LBA?

The CLEUD isn't a controversial proposal at all. Nonsense reporting. It's a legal process to determine what is, and isn't, permissible under the conditions set by a planning approval. As Leeds City Council are choosing to ignore the evidence put before them LBA are appealing and the matter will now, as LBA expected, be taken out of the Councils hands.

As for the LBA station, the most recent update is in the LBA forum, but I suspect you already know that. Anyway, when are they building the rail link and station at DSA?

 

i was told the saudis are galloping into doncaster, along with a a big AI company.
not sure yet where ,maybe gateway east?

 

i was told the saudis are galloping into doncaster, along with a a big AI company.
not sure yet where ,maybe gateway east?

Hmm I bet they are galloping into Doncaster, just as Virgin Atlantic and British Airways did.

 

i was told the saudis are galloping into doncaster, along with a a big AI company.
not sure yet where ,maybe gateway east?

That was for the St Leger

 

Horse racing so no need for anyone to take a fence! Or is Doncaster flat racing?

 

Horse racing so no need for anyone to take a fence! Or is Doncaster flat racing?

Indeed, there was an ASL 737 in HUY earlier (possibly still there?) that had brought horse(s) over for it.