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...?

 

You have to wonder why this letter has never been made public. This, in a respected newspaper such as the Yorkshire Post, would at least help ensure the pubic are aware they are being deceived by politicians. The very same ones that allowed DSA to fold in the first place and.now they not only ignore the evidence of 17 years trading, but they're prepared to blow multi millions chasing a dream airport that is unlikely to ever be a success.

Information like this should be publicised, not covered up.

Doesn’t fit the narrative? Could get shot down for believing Peel? I don’t know, that would be a question for the YP as to whether it would be something they’d run with. My belief is they wouldn’t go near it, not interesting to them and it’s almost 3 years old.

What was completely new to me in it was the clear statement that VAS intended to enter the airport into administration, I didn’t realise that was the case. I suspect it was them who also intended to do the same with MME as Peel took that back very rapidly. Completely flies in the face of the popular narrative doesn’t it.

 

The mechanic appears to have had a rant at SYMCA now, not happy about their independent scrutiny in light of the ‘ready to go’ plan that he claims has already been scrutinised.

Perhaps he needs to accept that SYMCA, whether they will admit it or not, have been in receipt of their own financial advisors reports in times past of the struggles the airport faced. Unfortunately for Chadwick the buck stops with Coppard as it is he who will ultimately come under fire should it transpire that £100s of millions have been squandered on a project that was doomed from the start and within which even the councils own external auditors have seen fit to issue concern.

 

The mechanic appears to have had a rant at SYMCA now, not happy about their independent scrutiny in light of the ‘ready to go’ plan that he claims has already been scrutinised.

Perhaps he needs to accept that SYMCA, whether they will admit it or not, have been in receipt of their own financial advisors reports in times past of the struggles the airport faced. Unfortunately for Chadwick the buck stops with Coppard as it is he who will ultimately come under fire should it transpire that £100s of millions have been squandered on a project that was doomed from the start and within which even the councils own external auditors have seen fit to issue concern.

Perhaps OC should consider the situation at CWL and how much the Welsh Government has blown there over the years. A Labour Government. Huge amounts yet passenger figures are poor. It may be the Welsh capital city, but Bristol crucifies it. If CWL can't do better, what hope for Donny, surrounded by 4 other airports, one if which is rather big!

 

Perhaps OC should consider the situation at CWL and how much the Welsh Government has blown there over the years. A Labour Government. Huge amounts yet passenger figures are poor. It may be the Welsh capital city, but Bristol crucifies it. If CWL can't do better, what hope for Donny, surrounded by 4 other airports, one if which is rather big!

Suppose he has to assess it on its own merits. Was recently chatting to an easyjet skipper who operated from the DSA base back when, he said the loads were so inconsistent that some days they’d be full and others they’d have a handful of people on at best. Apparently it was clear pretty early on that it wasn’t going to last. Consensus, no good for anything other than seasonal flights to holiday destinations. That will limit the scope of revenue generation. We already know this, Christian Foster will be led by local pride and blind to the realities of it. No doubt they’re talking to easyjet but if what I was told is true they know when somethings not going to work..

 

The mechanic appears to have had a rant at SYMCA now, not happy about their independent scrutiny in light of the ‘ready to go’ plan that he claims has already been scrutinised.

Perhaps he needs to accept that SYMCA, whether they will admit it or not, have been in receipt of their own financial advisors reports in times past of the struggles the airport faced. Unfortunately for Chadwick the buck stops with Coppard as it is he who will ultimately come under fire should it transpire that £100s of millions have been squandered on a project that was doomed from the start and within which even the councils own external auditors have seen fit to issue concern.

He hasn't posted for days, this rant must have been weeks ago

 

He hasn't posted for days, this rant must have been weeks ago

Last year when we were debating the chamber manifesto a lack of collaboration was mentioned,

Is it just bad management of time and resources .
Or is there another reason??

We know it can get very parochial here in South Yorkshire,
Do the different authorities need to sit down and get a system in place that stops duplication,
Do they need to stop the competitive way of doing things and work together for a better south yorkshire.

We've seen it recently with the airport project.

All the leg work has been done by Doncaster Council with funding from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, using out sourced independent consultants who have come up with a plan for the airport, that's had to eb and flow with the tide to get a plan in place using public funds to reopen DSA,
SYMCA have already employed one company to scrutinise the work
Yet here we are waiting for them to duplicate the same work with another course of due dilligence.
To what end??
To be the first to be able to claim we've saved the airport,

This competitive way of working together or not as the case may be

is a prime example.
The delays here with the window of opportunity we have to get DSA reopened and operational is not acceptable.

Posted one day ago.

 

Posted one day ago.

Sounds like he's panicking to me. Perhaps he's worrying that something might be found that leads to a change in direction. Perhaps, some common sense might be discovered.

He's right though. In South Yorkshire they do get very parochial to the point where it clouds their judgement. Delusions of grandeur. DSA driving growth scross the North? Dont make me laugh.

Ironically, the Mechanic himself is the prime example of that. Parochial to the point of being ridiculous.

 

Posted one day ago.in his Facebook group or on twitter? He has only posted his gig at the Doncaster Chamber dinner. Do you have a link @pug

 

Sounds like he's panicking to me. Perhaps he's worrying that something might be found that leads to a change in direction. Perhaps, some common sense might be discovered.

He's right though. In South Yorkshire they do get very parochial to the point where it clouds their judgement. Delusions of grandeur. DSA driving growth scross the North? Dont make me laugh.

Ironically, the Mechanic himself is the prime example of that. Parochial to the point of being ridiculous.

See also the question raised in the Lords over whether there would be any Gvt money for DSA which was swiftly and quite brutally batted off by the minister when he said ‘nice try but on the matter of transport hubs’ then went on to list other transport schemes that have and are receiving funding from central Gvt with no mention of DSA in the reply.

@Egyptian King it was posted on LinkedIn by the account I assume he runs.

 

Adam Fletcher, Labour Party member from Wakefield has posted in the mechanic's group he thinks expansion at Yorkshire Wildlife Park will complement DSA 2.0.

On the official figures for YWP visitors, barely any came via DSA, less than 0.1%, it was a handful.

 

Adam Fletcher, Labour Party member from Wakefield has posted in the mechanic's group he thinks expansion at Yorkshire Wildlife Park will complement DSA 2.0.

On the official figures for YWP visitors, barely any came via DSA, less than 0.1%, it was a handful.

You're forgetting that the Yorkshire Wildlife Park is home to a wonderful example of a White Elephant, the perfect complement to a reopened DSA.

 

Adam Fletcher, Labour Party member from Wakefield has posted in the mechanic's group he thinks expansion at Yorkshire Wildlife Park will complement DSA 2.0.

On the official figures for YWP visitors, barely any came via DSA, less than 0.1%, it was a handful.

It’s hardly Disneyworld Orlando is it..

Perhaps the problem that DSA has been looking to be a solution for, turn the whole of Doncaster into some kind of theme park which will entice people from around the world

 

Daniel Fells (Doncaster Chamber) latest Linkedin post states he will be a panellist at new Civil engineer airports conference. Here he will discuss "lthe encouraging developments that we’ve been able to celebrate over the past 12 months, including how Doncaster Council managed to secure a 125-year lease for the site and that Munich Airport International have been appointed as credible operators. By then, I’m hopeful (perhaps naively) that I’ll be able to say how the Government’s encouraging words about supporting the airport have turned into deeds (or better still, cash)!" and of course talks about bringing £1.5billion into local economy over three decades, and my favourite statement of "boosting our inbound tourism"!!

Interesting the statement now about the need for cash from the Government, I think this is a sign that the reality of the actual costs are rising somewhat.

 

Daniel Fells (Doncaster Chamber) latest Linkedin post states he will be a panellist at new Civil engineer airports conference. Here he will discuss "lthe encouraging developments that we’ve been able to celebrate over the past 12 months, including how Doncaster Council managed to secure a 125-year lease for the site and that Munich Airport International have been appointed as credible operators. By then, I’m hopeful (perhaps naively) that I’ll be able to say how the Government’s encouraging words about supporting the airport have turned into deeds (or better still, cash)!" and of course talks about bringing £1.5billion into local economy over three decades, and my favourite statement of "boosting our inbound tourism"!!

Interesting the statement now about the need for cash from the Government, I think this is a sign that the reality of the actual costs are rising somewhat.

For ‘boosting inbound tourism’ see my post above. What planet are these people on? There’s nothing wrong with trying to promote your City/Region but people aren’t going to start flying in to Doncaster wanting to visit Doncaster en-masse.

As for the rest, all seems a bit odd. I appreciate were in the pre-election period now hence Ros Jones (non) update last week, but the news has reduced significantly. I do note that there is recruitment currently ongoing for people to work with the facilities manager. This is presumably part of the ‘ongoing mobilisation’ work to start working towards gaining the relevant licences. Wonder whether they’ll get many people applying who currently work in aviation elsewhere, particularly as the funding hasn’t actually been granted yet so there are no guarantees of longevity.

 

Daniel Fells (Doncaster Chamber) latest Linkedin post states he will be a panellist at new Civil engineer airports conference. Here he will discuss "lthe encouraging developments that we’ve been able to celebrate over the past 12 months, including how Doncaster Council managed to secure a 125-year lease for the site and that Munich Airport International have been appointed as credible operators. By then, I’m hopeful (perhaps naively) that I’ll be able to say how the Government’s encouraging words about supporting the airport have turned into deeds (or better still, cash)!" and of course talks about bringing £1.5billion into local economy over three decades, and my favourite statement of "boosting our inbound tourism"!!

Interesting the statement now about the need for cash from the Government, I think this is a sign that the reality of the actual costs are rising somewhat.

This guy must live in a different world one look from his profile tells you all you need to know about his experience (lack of in an aviation matters). ….Does he really think the bucket and spade LCC airlines are going to be bringing in bulging loads of overseas visitors or even the odd flight to Amsterdam or Dublin should they actually convince an airline to take a highly significant commercial risk…
LBA is less the 1/2 hr from the Yorkshire dales, Bronte Country and towns such as Harrogate, Ilkley and Skipton and York less then an hour away. Then you’ve both the cities of Leeds and Bradford.
Manchester has both Cheshire, North wales, the Peak District and even the Lake District plus the cities of the NW and their football pull…..
And even these airports with those attractions on their doorstep don’t generate significant inbound tourist passenger traffic….that is through LHR and always will be! The guy is nuts…….

 

With the closure of Scunthorpe Steelworks this year, there isn't the significant industry business travel pull either for Doncaster area. There is no industry cluster to draw business travel.

Humberside can just hang on to the KLM/ Eastern Amsterdam service because of the industrial cluster in the region and just starting bucket and spade flights once again.

So Doncaster in the middle without any real draw effect isn't going to get far.

The Council would have been better getting the airship factory onto Finningley, than where it has put in the centre of Doncaster. I'd have been happy to see the airships on Finngley to keep the aviation element to the site as it would be away from population centres.

 

With the closure of Scunthorpe Steelworks this year, there isn't the significant industry business travel pull either for Doncaster area. There is no industry cluster to draw business travel.

Humberside can just hang on to the KLM/ Eastern Amsterdam service because of the industrial cluster in the region and just starting bucket and spade flights once again.

So Doncaster in the middle without any real draw effect isn't going to get far.

The Council would have been better getting the airship factory onto Finningley, than where it has put in the centre of Doncaster. I'd have been happy to see the airships on Finngley to keep the aviation element to the site as it would be away from population centres.

Humberside has been for years a strong performer with KLM due in no small part to the shipping complex and associated offshore industry which is being ramped up by the building of more offshore wind farms that need regular maintenance. Lost business from the Steelworks would obviously be felt but probably on a more insignificant level than where shipping to end for whatever reason. Hopefully an agreement can be reached to continue producing steel in Scunthorpe because the town will die with it, as will the country. But the sentiments are the same, there’s not enough money to go around and building airports won’t stop the rot but accelerate it.

Today Able UK have again asked for help to get their offshore marine energy park off the ground in North Lincolnshire. As it’s been in the making for almost 20 years I’ll believe it when I see it, but like with the Siemens investment in Hull it could more than cover the lost jobs should the steelworks close.

There are a lot more people in South Yorkshire but they have choice and therefore the local aspect isn’t as much of a USP unless you live in Doncaster. This has been discussed to death.

 

To be fair, the annual St Leger meeting does generate inbound international tourism. Last September, Aidan O'Brien used Humberside for both personnel and horse transport to and from the meeting. However an annual event doesn't pay the yearly bills of an airport!

 

To be fair, the annual St Leger meeting does generate inbound international tourism. Last September, Aidan O'Brien used Humberside for both personnel and horse transport to and from the meeting. However an annual event doesn't pay the yearly bills of an airport!

Exactly and maybe an inconvenient fact that in spite of statements to the contrary by some, HUY comfortably handled that traffic. I don’t imagine they felt too put out flying into an airport that has motorway connections almost door to door. Doncaster didn’t miss out on not having an airport on that occasion.

 

I see the mechanic will be allowed to plant a question for Ros with a ready made answer in the hustings for the election.
No doubt it will be a Labour question so Ros can list all her achievements.