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 saw a post yesterday evening, from the mechanic stating apparently the white X’s have been removed and 2 Excel are to fly their x2 727s in.. obviously met with excitement / a lot of social media activity.. however has now been deleted..

Not sure how true it is but surely moving 2 planes with no fuel farm / ATC / ground staff at the airport is well.. not possible..?

Perhaps he’s stolen the thunder of the council as they will use this as a perfect photo opportunity. No issue with having 727’s in, they could uplift fuel elsewhere or arrange for mobile browsers to be on site and uplifting fuel from elsewhere. Must be a pain having them in Southend (though I gather a lot of the crew live in the south?). 2Excel will understandably want to be back in a centralised location, arguably they are the ones who have lost out the most in this whole thing and hence their support for reopening, claiming in their statement earlier this year that it should never have closed. Perhaps they’d have a different opinion if they were having to shoulder the burden of high operating costs!

If the mechanic says that then it must be true, lol. .

Out of interest, has DSA retained its fire service for 2 years sat twiddling their thumbs? If not, and there's no fire cover, then surely nothing can land.

There’ll be nothing preventing private non commercial air traffic from flying in. A simple air/ground radio operator would suffice! The airfield is unlicensed at this time so the risk will be on 2Excel and their insurers.

 

I saw a post yesterday evening, from the mechanic stating apparently the white X’s have been removed and 2 Excel are to fly their x2 727s in.. obviously met with excitement / a lot of social media activity.. however has now been deleted..

Not sure how true it is but surely moving 2 planes with no fuel farm / ATC / ground staff at the airport is well.. not possible..?

Very possible he got a slap on the wrist's for posting he's put his foot in it before on more than one occasion.

 

Meanwhile Dan Fell of Doncaster Chamber had the following to say after one of those local business ‘networking’ events;

It was good to hear an update about Doncaster Sheffield Airport and to be reminded of the palpable enthusiasm within our business community to make the airport a success this time round. The business community has cheerleader for the airport to reopen and, last night, we were clear that the benefits of the airport cannot just be hypothetical; we need to see wins for local businesses through supply chain opportunities, connectivity to target export markets, and the promotion of inbound tourism.

Bet there’s people all around the world crying out for flights to Doncaster so they can visit on holiday. Anyhow, I know the local businesses are going to be disappointed.

 

From what I can gather: the X’s on the runway have reduced in number from one every 1000ft denoting permanent closure to one at each end of the runway which denotes temporary runway closure. I heard about a month ago that 2Excel were planning to recover some of their fleet back to DSA early December, looks like 6th December will be the day (this Friday). Not sure which aircraft this will be, some believe the 727’s, they may then put some Navajos in as these are used for top cover on the oil spill response op.

I suspect this will be a collaborative effort with CDC and will be done not only to allow 2Excel use of the airfield unlicensed like they have at Lasham, but also it’s the perfect photo opportunity for CDC to show they’re doing something. I don’t expect the operator to be named yet, although if they have concluded the deal we may hear something. However I’m led to believe this has been planned for months so it’s not anything to get too excited about, although I will say it’s good to see that aircraft will return to the runway.

 

Really hope it works out for the airport but more for the likes of 2 Excel and the staff that will return which some of course will they have had all had the upheaval once they don't need it again whatever people's opnions are lets remember the human side to this. May well end up a nightmare just hope things are different and it ends quite the fairytale.

 

Wouldn’t expect anything larger than King Air on Friday. Airfield to be used on an unlicensed basis for ad/hoc pre arranged movements for 2Excel only and other operators have been warned to stay away - at least for the time being. It will be used for publicity by Ros Jones who will presumably still be working on her pronunciation of the airports name.

I agree with Rob, it has been a pain for 2Excel and its staff who have been dispersed far and wide at what must be significant expense to them. Can fully understand why they have been pushing for use of the airfield and ultimately the reopening to full service once more. I would still question what they would have done differently had they ran the airport, saying it should never have closed just won’t cut it, the amount they’ll have lost in this process will be a fraction of what Peel lost in just one standard year of ops.

Anyway, the council are giving the impression that they’ve moved mountains. Whether this is smoke and mirrors remains to be seen, operator needs to be signed and sealed along with a private backer who will deliver. If the council are expected to take on the losses until the airport breaks even then I’m afraid it won’t last long. This has to be a long term investment and they must accept that it will not break even within 5 years, regardless of what the people they paid to tell them have *surprise surprise * told them.

Jury very much still out.

 

BREAKING NEWS: a light twin landed at an airfield today and was met by local dignitaries who wanted to get their photo taken with it.

 

BREAKING NEWS: a light twin landed at an airfield today and was met by local dignitaries who wanted to get their photo taken with it.

And BBC Look North sent a reporter to do a 5 minute feature including chats with a guy from 2 Excel and of course, Ros Jones who claimed DSA would provide an economic boost for the entire North! Amazing how they turned a small twin engined aircraft landing, into a major story. And yes, they did mention the super long runway, in case we didn't know.

 

And BBC Look North sent a reporter to do a 5 minute feature including chats with a guy from 2 Excel and of course, Ros Jones who claimed DSA would provide an economic boost for the entire North! Amazing how they turned a small twin engined aircraft landing, into a major story. And yes, they did mention the super long runway, in case we didn't know.

History is repeating itself, only this time they have the tax payer over a barrel. I still think someone should have suggested to 2Excel that they take the airport on if they thought it shouldn’t have closed! They could still use it without a licence. Just sort the lighting out and they can return to task no problem.

Referral of a proposed subsidy to FlyDoncaster Limited by City of Doncaster Council

The Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) has published its report providing advice to City of Doncaster Council concerning its proposed subsidy to FlyDoncaster Limited.

www.gov.uk

Why is FlyDoncaster Ltd 100% publicly owned? Where does the private sector investor come in to this?

 

Expect all neighbouring airports to raise their objections to the CMA!
This also goes to show just how, what could be best described as marginal, the business case is now becoming and that to keep the airport operating public money will be required for years to come.
The longer this seems to drag on the worse the commercials around this airport seem to become as reality starts to bite!

In fairness this company could form part of the wider holding company (SPV) which would include a private sector investor and the airport operator. But we haven’t seen anything of the investor yet only that talks with an operator are being concluded and that the airport will be ‘loaned’ £105million which will be paid back ‘when cash flow allows’ on subsidised interest rates.

Something very fishy about it all. Seems to me that they are footing the bill for the reopening and the operating costs for some years. Could all change in the New Year of course but the SAU have said the conclusion to this review will be 22nd January 2025.

Steve Heapy appears to be unconvinced that the airport will be viable this time around, he will no doubt scrutinise their plans when he goes to chat with them. He’ll want a deal for training flights and diverts anyhow like he had before.

Meanwhile this evening Ros Jones has released a promo video to announce that the airport is reopening Spring 2026.

 

Very unlikely Jet2 would commit to much until they are convinced about DSA viability - why would any enterprise risk an established profitable operation and incur significant costs and risk to move to an unproven base? Add to that the Easy Orange will be established at LBA by 2026/7 - they’d simply take on the jet2 ops and staff at LBA and significantly dilute any passenger market at DSA.
Seems to me that Ros Jones positioning herself to sell to the public the need for an ongoing public subsidy of a loss making operation…

No she’s just politicising it. ‘I’m Ros Jones and I’m opening doncassur sheffiewt airport’. She even got the red coat out for the occasion. It’s manoeuvring to shore up support so that SYMCA board can’t say ‘hang on a minute’. She’ll be long gone as a small town politician by the time the truth of the matter hits home, assuming the uptake isn’t in line with the projections they paid for.

Someone posting the SAU link onto Rod Jones announcement has had their comments removed. If there is nothing to hide they should not be removing posts which ask valid questions. To my mind this confirms the motivation of todays distraction tactics.

 

No she’s just politicising it. ‘I’m Ros Jones and I’m opening doncassur sheffiewt airport’. She even got the red coat out for the occasion. It’s manoeuvring to shore up support so that SYMCA board can’t say ‘hang on a minute’. She’ll be long gone as a small town politician by the time the truth of the matter hits home, assuming the uptake isn’t in line with the projections they paid for.

Someone posting the SAU link onto Rod Jones announcement has had their comments removed. If there is nothing to hide they should not be removing posts which ask valid questions. To my mind this confirms the motivation of todays distraction tactics.

Seems to be what they do. Remove any awkward questions or on line posts,.shut down any dissenting councillors. Frankly, I'm staggered they are getting away with this.

 

Seems to be what they do. Remove any awkward questions or on line posts,.shut down any dissenting councillors. Frankly, I'm staggered they are getting away with this.

Wonder whether LBA will be submitting comments to the SAU?

 

Wonder whether LBA will be submitting comments to the SAU?

Honestly, I'll be surprised if they do so. The LBA CEO has always expressed regret that DSA failed, and said that there were good people trying to make a success of it before, but he has also said that he has no concerns about whether or not it reopens, and either way it will not impact on LBA growth. I think he sees the ongoing planning issues with the council over night quotas as the bigger threat.

Having said that, I guess it's possible that other airports might object to what's happening and agree a joint objection.

 

Mr Milliband managed to find his way to the airport today obviously wanting a bit of the limelight again, he hasn't seemed interested in the slightest unless he's seen the opportunity to put himself in a media spotlight the airport march and such, from what I can tell he may be Ros Jones chauffeur on occasions like this he's not the only one like who sussed out a photo opportunity but its all rather sad these politican's are finding themselves interested one day but not the next. Whatever people's opinon on Ros Jones she has at least thrown her all at it rightly or wrongly.

 

Mr Milliband managed to find his way to the airport today obviously wanting a bit of the limelight again, he hasn't seemed interested in the slightest unless he's seen the opportunity to put himself in a media spotlight the airport march and such, from what I can tell he may be Ros Jones chauffeur on occasions like this he's not the only one like who sussed out a photo opportunity but its all rather sad these politican's are finding themselves interested one day but not the next. Whatever people's opinon on Ros Jones she has at least thrown her all at it rightly or wrongly.

Neither Ros Jones nor Ed Milliband or Nick Fletcher or any other political sheister has lifted a finger on this project. The hard work has been completed behind the scenes by council execs. Ros Jones had apparently asked the councillors to butt out of it all as evidenced by the questions raised at full Council - apparently she didn’t want to make it political. Look at what she’s doing now! ‘Labour have saved your airport’. It’s a vote winner pure and simple, and vote winners are not viable business propositions due to the short nature of political terms.

I hope someone pulls them up on this when it goes to SYMCA board meeting presumably on 28th Jan.

 

Neither Ros Jones nor Ed Milliband or Nick Fletcher or any other political sheister has lifted a finger on this project. The hard work has been completed behind the scenes by council execs. Ros Jones had apparently asked the councillors to butt out of it all as evidenced by the questions raised at full Council - apparently she didn’t want to make it political. Look at what she’s doing now! ‘Labour have saved your airport’. It’s a vote winner pure and simple, and vote winners are not viable business propositions due to the short nature of political terms.

I hope someone pulls them up on this when it goes to SYMCA board meeting presumably on 28th Jan.

Not suggesting Ros or any of them have done anything other than champion the thing which Ros has at least Ros Jones can be seen to be passionate about her constituency where some other politicans seem above themselves.

Enough of politicians, I suppose the shows now on the road and the proof will be in the pudding as they say intersting times ahead over the next few months whatever the outcome.

 

This is the article- for the record.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Fresh update in New Year says mayor as first plane lands

The Mayor of Doncaster has said she will give a fresh update on plans to re-open Doncaster Sheffield Airport in the New Year after the first plane since its closure landed.

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk

 

Honestly, I'll be surprised if they do so. The LBA CEO has always expressed regret that DSA failed, and said that there were good people trying to make a success of it before, but he has also said that he has no concerns about whether or not it reopens, and either way it will not impact on LBA growth. I think he sees the ongoing planning issues with the council over night quotas as the bigger threat.

Having said that, I guess it's possible that other airports might object to what's happening and agree a joint objection.

I’d not be so sure. Given this is public money being used to potentially incentivise airlines to use or indeed fully move operations to DSA from LBA or indeed other competing airports I suspect they and other airports will.
One to watch……

 

I’d not be so sure. Given this is public money being used to potentially incentivise airlines to use or indeed fully move operations to DSA from LBA or indeed other competing airports I suspect they and other airports will.
One to watch……

I didn't say I was sure, just that I'd be surprised . Since I'm not a fan of DSA and never have been, my surprise if they do would be in the 'pleasant' category. But as I indicated, if the likes of MAN and EMA object then possibly LBA will do the same.