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...?

 

The same doubt that has existed amongst the majority of us on here since day one. I tend to agree this does sound a bit like a get out of jail card but let's see what this week's supposed update provides - suspect nothing much new

 

The same doubt that has existed amongst the majority of us on here since day one. I tend to agree this does sound a bit like a get out of jail card but let's see what this week's supposed update provides - suspect nothing much new

I’m not sure on this point. Is there a precedent for a local authority approaching a private sector freeholder for a lease of land to speculatively sub-let to another private sector operator? I think in terms of responsibility for tax payer money it probably makes sense to have a short period between the start of the lease and a possible break clause. I don’t think in this instance it’s suggestive of the council not being confident of securing an operator, more that they have to plan for the worst case. Imagine if the break clause was 5 years and they failed to agree terms with an operator, they’d be stuck with the land and lease payments for 5 years with absolutely no return likely. It would not be value for money.

I know Peel would probably have good will to break early if the Council had a change of heart, but still, it’s all legalities innit. Again, I wouldn’t read too much into this particular factor, it’s MP Nick causing mischief.

 

So much for that timetable Mayor Ros published…..I’d wager money this will not be sorted and an operator appointed this year! They are only due to get tenders back next week!! Then their is negotiating and due diligence then selection of a preferred bidder and then more negotiation and contracting to go through…..meanwhile all three competitor imports continue to invest, build, expand and contract more airlines, whilst the costs to re-open DSA continue to increase…….https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/News/cabinet-asked-to-approve-next-steps-towards-reopening-the-city-s-airport

 

So much for that timetable Mayor Ros published…..I’d wager money this will not be sorted and an operator appointed this year! They are only due to get tenders back next week!! Then their is negotiating and due diligence then selection of a preferred bidder and then more negotiation and contracting to go through…..meanwhile all three competitor imports continue to invest, build, expand and contract more airlines, whilst the costs to re-open DSA continue to increase…….https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/News/cabinet-asked-to-approve-next-steps-towards-reopening-the-city-s-airport

Yes, the extension was announced some time ago, so the final submissions are now due on Monday. Assuming these interested operators submit on Monday then the preferred operator is appointed in ‘July/August’ there will presumably then be months of further due diligence. So like you say, seems unlikely that anything concrete will be in place by the end of this year.

I do hope Ros Jones has absolutely no involvement in the talks. I don’t like to mock the afflicted, but watching the cringeworthy electioneering video of her and Ed Milliband released on Sunday, it appears she can’t even pronounce the word airpor

 

I see o

Yes, the extension was announced some time ago, so the final submissions are now due on Monday. Assuming these interested operators submit on Monday then the preferred operator is appointed in ‘July/August’ there will presumably then be months of further due diligence. So like you say, seems unlikely that anything concrete will be in place by the end of this year.

I do hope Ros Jones has absolutely no involvement in the talks. I don’t like to mock the afflicted, but watching the cringeworthy electioneering video of her and Ed Milliband released on Sunday, it appears she can’t even pronounce the w

I see she has now published a timeline on her FP page-
Timeline within the Cabinet report, but in summary:
Operator Submission of Tenders - 17th June
Evaluation of Tenders complete - End of July
“Alcatel” letters sent to unsuccessful tenderers - End of July
Preferred bidder award - July / August
SYMCA Full Business Case Approval - September
Subsidy Control Unit Decision - September
National Security and Investment Act 2021 - September
Contract/lease signature with Preferred Bidder - September

No idea who is advising her and putting this forward but it’s looks tosh!! It fails to take any account of timelines from an operator perspective and their internal governance hoops or for any further negotiation with operators. Is she so desperate she will just accept a detail from an operator at any cost…..

 

Surely all the work from the operators has been done in the bidding process. You don’t submit and then try and negotiate different terms if you have been selected. The bid you prepare is the one you are expected to honour if successful

 

So much for that timetable Mayor Ros published…..I’d wager money this will not be sorted and an operator appointed this year! They are only due to get tenders back next week!! Then their is negotiating and due diligence then selection of a preferred bidder and then more negotiation and contracting to go through…..meanwhile all three competitor imports continue to invest, build, expand and contract more airlines, whilst the costs to re-open DSA continue to increase…….https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/News/cabinet-asked-to-approve-next-steps-towards-reopening-the-city-s-airport

Really does make you wonder what will be left for DSA to pick up bar a few TUI routes they had before if the place gets up and running surely this constant industry expansion has a ceiling at some point.

 

Surely all the work from the operators has been done in the bidding process. You don’t submit and then try and negotiate different terms if you have been selected. The bid you prepare is the one you are expected to honour if successful

In principle yes, but I would expect all the legalities and contractual stuff will form part of further due diligence, particularly if there is a financial obligation on the winning bidder. It’s not really clear at the moment what the structure will look like, language has changed numerous times. Is it an operator, an investor, operator and investor? If it’s just an operator on behalf of the council then you’d expect the timescale to be far smaller than in the case of an operator and investor.

 

Surely all the work from the operators has been done in the bidding process. You don’t submit and then try and negotiate different terms if you have been selected. The bid you prepare is the one you are expected to honour if successful

I’m not sure they have, the operators asked for more time to work through their business cases. How can they have finalised their commercials if the business cases haven’t been finalised?? The bid you prepare is not always the final call - what if none of the bids are commercially attractive to the Council following the work through of the business cases?

 

I’m not sure they have, the operators asked for more time to work through their business cases. How can they have finalised their commercials if the business cases haven’t been finalised?? The bid you prepare is not always the final call - what if none of the bids are commercially attractive to the Council following the work through of the business cases?

Just skimmed through the agenda pack ahead of the Cabinet meeting on 19th. Some of the language appears designed to hasten approvals, they’ve made a point about the CAA airspace change proposals that the Council believe, if the airspace is lost, would cause considerable delay to reopening the airport.

What the hell are they talking about? The airport does NOT need Class D airspace to operate. Who has advised them otherwise, the interested bidders or the supposed aviation consultants? Airspace can be applied for once the airport is reopened based on a realistic traffic forecast. Are the report writers just using this aspect as a way of rushing through the approval of this stage? Lots of talk in there of how the timeline may change due to the discussions required with a winning bidder if there is one.

 

Just skimmed through the agenda pack ahead of the Cabinet meeting on 19th. Some of the language appears designed to hasten approvals, they’ve made a point about the CAA airspace change proposals that the Council believe, if the airspace is lost, would cause considerable delay to reopening the airport.

What the hell are they talking about? The airport does NOT need Class D airspace to operate. Who has advised them otherwise, the interested bidders or the supposed aviation consultants? Airspace can be applied for once the airport is reopened based on a realistic traffic forecast. Are the report writers just using this aspect as a way of rushing through the approval of this stage? Lots of talk in there of how the timeline may change due to the discussions required with a winning bidder if there is one.

Yes just read through it……really do wonder who is advising them I’m starting to think it’s the mechanic chap .

Here it is if people want to read and form their own opinions but as I said before none of this will be a surprise to anyone who has been involved with shambolic public sector procurement! Expect more delays and twists and this runs in into 2025….Still at least some legal and consultants will be getting a nice pay day courtesy of the tax payer Page 39 onwards relates to DSA. https://doncaster.moderngov.co.uk/d...rts pack 19th-Jun-2024 10.00 Cabinet.pdf?T=10

 

positive?

The council’s cabinet is being asked to approve delegated powers to the Director of Corporate Resources in consultation with the Mayor to appoint an operator who will be allocated preferred bidder status before a final contract can be concluded later in the year.
Cabinet will hear next week (June 19) that the council is currently engaged in a Public Procurement Process to identify an operator with the ability and experience to take the steps necessary to reopen the airport, return it to profitability and to take forward the South Yorkshire Airport City concept which is a wider programme of economic growth and regeneration.Tenders are due to be returned on 17 June 2024, following which an intense period of evaluation and clarification will take place to identify which submitted proposal provides the best deal for Doncaster and the potential operator that is best able to meet the challenge to reopen a successful and thriving airport.
Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said: “This is another step forward in our journey to reopen our airport. The procurement process is complex and detailed, when we have completed the selection stage, we will proceed to giving an operator preferred bidder status, this will allow City of Doncaster Council and the operator to work together to conclude a contract for the reopening of the airport.
"This is all part of our carefully managed plan and the necessary processes involved."

 

positive?

The council’s cabinet is being asked to approve delegated powers to the Director of Corporate Resources in consultation with the Mayor to appoint an operator who will be allocated preferred bidder status before a final contract can be concluded later in the year.
Cabinet will hear next week (June 19) that the council is currently engaged in a Public Procurement Process to identify an operator with the ability and experience to take the steps necessary to reopen the airport, return it to profitability and to take forward the South Yorkshire Airport City concept which is a wider programme of economic growth and regeneration.Tenders are due to be returned on 17 June 2024, following which an intense period of evaluation and clarification will take place to identify which submitted proposal provides the best deal for Doncaster and the potential operator that is best able to meet the challenge to reopen a successful and thriving airport.
Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said: “This is another step forward in our journey to reopen our airport. The procurement process is complex and detailed, when we have completed the selection stage, we will proceed to giving an operator preferred bidder status, this will allow City of Doncaster Council and the operator to work together to conclude a contract for the reopening of the airport.
"This is all part of our carefully managed plan and the necessary processes involved."

They need to make their minds up as to which is their priority. The best deal for Doncaster or the operator that is best able to reopen DSA and return it to profit, because the tender that offers the best deal may not be the best airport operator.

What's clear is that examining the tenders will take a month or two, with the potential operators interviewed as is normal practice. Then a preferred bidder announced and then, that preferred bidder may still want to carry out further investigations before committing to a contract.

For the sake of the rate payers of Doncaster, I hope that their procurement advisors know what they're doing in relation to aviation as some of what I've read suggests otherwise .

 

They need to make their minds up as to which is their priority. The best deal for Doncaster or the operator that is best able to reopen DSA and return it to profit, because the tender that offers the best deal may not be the best airport operator.

What's clear is that examining the tenders will take a month or two, with the potential operators interviewed as is normal practice. Then a preferred bidder announced and then, that preferred bidder may still want to carry out further investigations before committing to a contract.

For the sake of the rate payers of Doncaster, I hope that their procurement advisors know what they're doing in relation to aviation as some of what I've read suggests otherwise .

I noticed the choice of language in the document too about returning the airport to profitability. I’m not sure why they chose to say that, the airport business has never been anywhere near profitable. Intentionally misleading? Playing the ‘Peel mismanaged it and/or cooked the books’ card? Or just simply trying to downplay the fact that the airport will probably never be profitable should they attempt to pursue the same business model as the previous incarnation?

 

Or just another get out of jail card so they can say we couldn’t agree on how we could ever make the airport profitable in the future

 

Or just another get out of jail card so they can say we couldn’t agree on how we could ever make the airport profitable in the future

I don’t think it’s clever enough to be so devious. They just don’t want to be answering difficult questions at the Cabinet meeting, the project appears to have unanimous support within the Council so far. They have a study by an unnamed Aviation consultancy that says it’s got huge untapped potential so it must be true. Confirmation bias in its rawest form.

 

I don’t think it’s clever enough to be so devious. They just don’t want to be answering difficult questions at the Cabinet meeting, the project appears to have unanimous support within the Council so far. They have a study by an unnamed Aviation consultancy that says it’s got huge untapped potential so it must be true. Confirmation bias in its rawest form.

<looks at a map of the region>

"Huge untapped potential"? Where? Do they know something we don't, like an incoming Labour government is going to build millions of homes in the fields of Lincolnshire? I'm pretty certain that Peel & the various operators found little potential with the existing population centres, so unless either whole new cities are built nearby, or other airports are shut, then DSA is really only going to attract the same unprofitable numbers as the 17 years it was open.

 

veridon have in april , given the go ahead for a huge project at the i port . the iPort Rail sits within 5 minutes of the m18 , the airport nine minutes. the UK’s most advanced multimodal logistics hub.The terminal extension works will double its current size and storage capacity and increase number of trains that the terminal can accommodate each day, increasing the long distance, low carbon movement of goods. the works will be finished in 2025. if the airport is to be viable, it needs to be more cargo than passengers. the low carbon is one of the main points CDC , and the local labour mps are pushing.

<looks at a map of the region>

"Huge untapped potential"? Where? Do they know something we don't, like an incoming Labour government is going to build millions of homes in the fields of Lincolnshire? I'm pretty certain that Peel & the various operators found little potential with the existing population centres, so unless either whole new cities are built nearby, or other airports are shut, then DSA is really only going to attract the same unprofitable numbers as the 17 years it was open.

There is significant untapped potential here at iPort to increase rail freight provision and support national and international supply chains. Our agreement with MEDLOG creates a strong platform for future growth and we are pleased to be making good progress with the appointment of Winvic and its start on site.

 

There is significant untapped potential here at iPort to increase rail freight provision and support national and international supply chains. Our agreement with MEDLOG creates a strong platform for future growth and we are pleased to be making good progress with the appointment of Winvic and its start on site.

Do you not think the previously unsuccessful airport operator will have known all this? It wasn't a catalyst, it didn't work for them. Too many fairy-tale hopes are being pinned on this vanity project with a reliance on essentially steeling cargo ops from EMA and passenger traffic from LBA. It just isn't good business sense to rely on the demise of other successful airports to support what has already been tried and failed at DSA.

 

veridon have in april , given the go ahead for a huge project at the i port . the iPort Rail sits within 5 minutes of the m18 , the airport nine minutes. the UK’s most advanced multimodal logistics hub.The terminal extension works will double its current size and storage capacity and increase number of trains that the terminal can accommodate each day, increasing the long distance, low carbon movement of goods. the works will be finished in 2025. if the airport is to be viable, it needs to be more cargo than passengers. the low carbon is one of the main points CDC , and the local labour mps are pushing.


There is significant untapped potential here at iPort to increase rail freight provision and support national and international supply chains. Our agreement with MEDLOG creates a strong platform for future growth and we are pleased to be making good progress with the appointment of Winvic and its start on site.

Rail and sea freight is not compatible with air freight. Some ad/hoc bulk air cargo operated from DSA previously. Typically niche stuff like consumables like flowers that were then transported by road.

The money in air freight is parcel distribution. That is all at EMA, and as Aviador said, it’s unwise to build a business case on stealing business from other airports that are good at what they do and have long developed relationships and purpose built air freight handling facilities.

The Council are being led down the path, probably with a budding operator who has seen an opportunity to leverage some cash in the short term.