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...?

 

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Consortium 'offering council £100m deal as alternative to public funding plan'

An international consortium says it is offering a £100m deal to council bosses to take over Doncaster Sheffield Airport and 126 acres of surrounding development land.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

as i said before the media in the middle east had a different take on the offer for DSA, last time.

 

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Consortium 'offering council £100m deal as alternative to public funding plan'

An international consortium says it is offering a £100m deal to council bosses to take over Doncaster Sheffield Airport and 126 acres of surrounding development land.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

as i said before the media in the middle east had a different take on the offer for DSA, last time.

The ‘different take’ being that Peel were a reluctant seller and the ‘consortium’ were a reluctant buyer? £100m for the airport and surrounding land when the lease is worth over £363m to Peel who continue to own the surrounding land? And you think this is going to fly?

This investment group is clearly not credible, the U.K. arm being dissolved doesn’t exactly scream credible investor to me. In fact the mention of Castlepines Equity should have anyone concerned, apparently led by a true con artist who went bankrupt in NZ and rather than being ‘Monaco based’ was apparently last seen to be staying in a hotel in the South of France.

No credible offers. Seems Peel were right. This will help muddy the waters though and make councillors question that, if there is private investors waiting in the wings, why must they agree to a further significant loan guaranteed by the tax payers of Doncaster.

 

Looks like the council have recruited a Head Of Cargo.. I mean why? There is no licence/air space to even fly from DSA anything realistic start up is 2028 if that. Paying a wage for 2 years for not doing too much is crazy. Like they are with MIA which seems to be doing nothing. Hard job considering EMA is sweeping it all up.

 

Looks like the council have recruited a Head Of Cargo.. I mean why? There is no licence/air space to even fly from DSA anything realistic start up is 2028 if that. Paying a wage for 2 years for not doing too much is crazy. Like they are with MIA which seems to be doing nothing. Hard job considering EMA is sweeping it all up.

They appear to have re-appointed the person that was in this position before, which is a little problematic if they are to have things go differently this time. However they’ll have to have post-holders in place, not sure if this is one such position but they’ll presumably be tasked with nurturing relationships prior to the planned resumption of services. EMA are making a big deal of their recent wins at the moment.

 

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Consortium 'offering council £100m deal as alternative to public funding plan'

An international consortium says it is offering a £100m deal to council bosses to take over Doncaster Sheffield Airport and 126 acres of surrounding development land.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

as i said before the media in the middle east had a different take on the offer for DSA, last time.

What I find odd about this - although I personally would prefer CDC to be using private money instead of mine - is:
The Mayor has stated that this consortium has been around for three years and neither Peel nor CDC themselves appear to have been interested. There must be a very good reason for that. If the funding is legitimate which rumours suggest otherwise what do they want in return? Not investing out of a sense of benevolence towards the people of Doncaster for sure and now with a downgraded financial prediction for the airport what are they up to?
Why would they 'leak' this information to the Press at a time when CDC are at a critical stage in the funding process I wonder? They seem to be playing CDC at their own game - the positive half of the story to make people sit up and listen at a strategic moment in time but nowhere near enough to enable a balanced view to be taken.
The Consortium don't appear to have 'leaked' to the YP what the trade off is.
Maybe CDC will issue a statement via their usual mouth pieces - or maybe they won't. Maybe they've been there decided no and put it to bed some time ago.

 

What I find odd about this - although I personally would prefer CDC to be using private money instead of mine - is:
The Mayor has stated that this consortium has been around for three years and neither Peel nor CDC themselves appear to have been interested. There must be a very good reason for that. If the funding is legitimate which rumours suggest otherwise what do they want in return? Not investing out of a sense of benevolence towards the people of Doncaster for sure and now with a downgraded financial prediction for the airport what are they up to?
Why would they 'leak' this information to the Press at a time when CDC are at a critical stage in the funding process I wonder? They seem to be playing CDC at their own game - the positive half of the story to make people sit up and listen at a strategic moment in time but nowhere near enough to enable a balanced view to be taken.
The Consortium don't appear to have 'leaked' to the YP what the trade off is.
Maybe CDC will issue a statement via their usual mouth pieces - or maybe they won't. Maybe they've been there decided no and put it to bed some time ago.

This is the strange thing about it. Why leak to the YP rather than follow the usual channels and discuss directly with CDC/FlyDoncaster? Not doing so would suggest that they either aren’t credible (as Peel originally stated) or the Council aren’t interested, or just a mix of both. So quite why the mechanic thinks this is proof of private sector interest seems at best a little presumptuous. I personally think even he knows that the escalation of costs, and the constant moving of the goal posts, means that there’s quite a few more question marks over the project than what he initially believed.

 

It seems likely that the consortium sees the danger for CDC of rapidly escalating costs and increasing public backlash, and is looking to take advantage. They will have been biding their time and waiting for the right moment.

I’m not sure how their offer gets them the ‘126 acres of surrounding development land’ the article mentions - as far as I’m aware that belongs to Peel and they aren’t interested in selling. In fact, everything is owned by Peel. What are they expecting to buy with their £100m, FlyDoncaster and its assets? If so, do they have the further £200m it will take to reopen the airport and cover its losses for 9(+) years? In fact, more than £200m since FlyDoncaster was proposing to borrow that money from public bodies at non-commercial rates, which won’t be an option for a private consortium.

 

It seems likely that the consortium sees the danger for CDC of rapidly escalating costs and increasing public backlash, and is looking to take advantage. They will have been biding their time and waiting for the right moment.

I’m not sure how their offer gets them the ‘126 acres of surrounding development land’ the article mentions - as far as I’m aware that belongs to Peel and they aren’t interested in selling. In fact, everything is owned by Peel. What are they expecting to buy with their £100m, FlyDoncaster and its assets? If so, do they have the further £200m it will take to reopen the airport and cover its losses for 9(+) years? In fact, more than £200m since FlyDoncaster was proposing to borrow that money from public bodies at non-commercial rates, which won’t be an option for a private consortium.

Exactly, it seems to me that they’ve identified a vulnerability and are trying to snatch it under the pretence of offering a far less financially risky proposition for the Council. I don’t trust it at all, I suspect CDC don’t either, but also what CDCs leaders won’t want is a private sector company swooping in and ‘taking the glory’. If this is just an offer to purchase FlyDoncaster, and presumably the leasehold, then it not really sure what they’d get for £100million. As you say though, if they’ve got their eyes on Gateway East too then there’s very little chance that Peel would be willing to relinquish in my view. So I think they’ve seen an opportunity to disrupt and sew doubt into the minds of the councillors tasked with voting on this in a couple of weeks.

 

Another YP article has popped up today:

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Council promises to 'robustly defend' any legal challenge to £128m loan

Any legal challenge to the use of more than £100m in public money to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport will be "robustly defended", council bosses have said.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

They’re now saying that CDC are going to lend FlyDoncaster £128million with competitive interest rates and feel they can bat off any legal challenges ‘robustly’.

 

Another YP article has popped up today:

Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Council promises to 'robustly defend' any legal challenge to £128m loan

Any legal challenge to the use of more than £100m in public money to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport will be "robustly defended", council bosses have said.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

They’re now saying that CDC are going to lend FlyDoncaster £128million with competitive interest rates and feel they can bat off any legal challenges ‘robustly’.

The challenge by Bristol Airport against the Welsh Government's funding to Cardiff will act as a precedent. If Bristol wins that then CDC may find themselves on a very sticky wicket.

 

The challenge by Bristol Airport against the Welsh Government's funding to Cardiff will act as a precedent. If Bristol wins that then CDC may find themselves on a very sticky wicket.

Well indeed, and commercial lawyers appear to be watching that with interest. However all this is about is injecting more confidence ahead of the vote on 27th. They’ve listed this as a critical risk so to avoid any contention on the day they want to reassure the Councillors that everything will be fine and that they’ve got their best lawyers onto it. Much the same as everything else with this.

 

Well indeed, and commercial lawyers appear to be watching that with interest. However all this is about is injecting more confidence ahead of the vote on 27th. They’ve listed this as a critical risk so to avoid any contention on the day they want to reassure the Councillors that everything will be fine and that they’ve got their best lawyers onto it. Much the same as everything else with this.

Smoke, mirrors, and deception.

Did they ever address the impact on neighbouring airports as requested by the agency looking into the public funding? At the time they seemed to almost ignore it and hope it would just go away. It was, as I recall, one of several concerns raised.

 

Smoke, mirrors, and deception.

Did they ever address the impact on neighbouring airports as requested by the agency looking into the public funding? At the time they seemed to almost ignore it and hope it would just go away. It was, as I recall, one of several concerns raised.

They said they were working on addressing those SAU findings but it was ‘on the whole positive’. As I understand it there is no requirement to resubmit a further report to the SAU, and the initial feedback is only guidance.

 

They said they were working on addressing those SAU findings but it was ‘on the whole positive’. As I understand it there is no requirement to resubmit a further report to the SAU, and the initial feedback is only guidance.

So, they probably didnt bother then. There's no way, in my opinion, they've assessed the impact on LBA, 20% of whose passengers they think they'll nick (putting people out of work in the process - in their dreams) or EMA whose cargo ops they think they'll nick too. Except they won't. They seemingly took the view it was 'largely positive' because they took no notice of the significant criticisms.

 

Former sustainability advisor for SYMCA has posted on LinkedIn regarding Oliver Coppard misrepresenting him during the airport reopening interview in the YP when Coppard was asked a question posed by him. It was suggested that the person in question had ‘changed his mind’ over the airport. Turns out that the sustainability advisor had reviewed the sustainability plan as set out by Peel in 2021/2 prior to the announcement of the strategic review and as part of their negotiations regarding a loan or equity share in the business for £20million. Might I suggest that this is clear as day that Coppard is happy to cherrypick to suit? He’d apparently also raised concerns in regards to the original Peel proposal. It is also stated that having such discussions are difficult and he’s had friends and former colleagues reach out to say they have had to be careful of association due fearing repercussions! It’s quite obvious then that opinions against reopening DSA are seen as dissenting voices as far as Coppard is concerned. Clearly Peels previous approach doesn’t support the mismanagement narrative. Anyway, this person has complained to SYMCA for being misrepresented and Coppard has not apologised for this. Interesting.

 

Doncaster Council "suppressed" offer of private investment in DSA, PM told in letter

The City of Doncaster Council has “delayed, suppressed and frustrated” an offer of private investment into Doncaster Sheffield Airport, the consortium behind the offer has told the Prime Minister in a letter.

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk

The plot thickens. Now mentions of £500million of private investment to ‘unlock the potential’ of DSA. They have interest in power grid for some reason, which screams of an ulterior motive. Anyway, they’re clearly trying to influence the decision on the 27th and, whilst Coppard was apparently pointing out this ‘private sector interest’ at an event last night, clearly CDC don’t share their view on it. The letter to PM would suggest that the CDC are actively blocking investment.! Very strange if this is the credible offer Coppard wants to paint it as.

 

Smoke and mirrors? It's been 3 years and no private investors have been interested? But now getting close apparently there is.. how convenient.

Still no / lack of airline interest.. so what's the point?

"Will you work to protect rare birds & will there be a new rail station"

yes the two important highlights of the evening from Coppard's Facebook post.. says all you need to know. What a joke, hard hitting headline and statement that one.

 

Doncaster Council "suppressed" offer of private investment in DSA, PM told in letter

The City of Doncaster Council has “delayed, suppressed and frustrated” an offer of private investment into Doncaster Sheffield Airport, the consortium behind the offer has told the Prime Minister in a letter.

www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk

The plot thickens. Now mentions of £500million of private investment to ‘unlock the potential’ of DSA. They have interest in power grid for some reason, which screams of an ulterior motive. Anyway, they’re clearly trying to influence the decision on the 27th and, whilst Coppard was apparently pointing out this ‘private sector interest’ at an event last night, clearly CDC don’t share their view on it. The letter to PM would suggest that the CDC are actively blocking investment.! Very strange if this is the credible offer Coppard wants to paint it as.

Just another twist in the DSA saga Coppard needs to demonstrate some private sector interest from whoever they maybe to justify his decision making….. Labyrinth International Investments and Castlepines???? £200m for grid connectivity (whatever that is as Peel never mentioned an issue) and a rail link? Thats obviously not the ECML proposal then as that was last costed at £300m+…

 

Also a piece today by Dan Fell, trying to get support, after having some negative feedback at a public meeting:

“Last night, I once more had the privilege of chairing a public meeting about DSA with Oliver Coppard. The event demonstrated the strong opinions that are held within our community about the airport; it also showed how clear-eyed people are about both the risks and rewards of this project.

The discussion was timely because, on 27th November, Doncaster Council will decide whether to accept £159m from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority to facilitate the reopening of DSA, a decision that will shape our region’s economy for decades. To be clear, the decision is far from a foregone conclusion; there is significant jeopardy here.

Whilst not universal, support for DSA from the business community remains overwhelming strong. On the basis of last night - and despite some dissenting voices - residents and communities seem to be equally supportive. That's because, even before closure, DSA contributed around £100m a year to South Yorkshire's economy. A revitalised airport could deliver far more, driving inward investment, trade, tourism, logistics, whilst creating over 10,000 job opportunities and anchoring the Gateway East Investment Zone. No other project in our region offers such transformative potential.

Yes, there are key risks that will require ongoing consideration and mitigation. However, the greater risk now is dither and delay. Further slippage could inhibit the plan for passenger flights in 2028 onwards and reduce confidence in the project.

That’s why Doncaster Chamber of Commerce is asking businesses and residents to act:

* Write to local party leaders and councillors and/or submit a question to Full Council via [email protected].

* Speak up on social media about why DSA matters to you and your business.

* Encourage local politicians to work together to seize this opportunity and prioritise place over politics.

This is the moment to move from campaign to creation. I urge our local leaders to reach across the political aisle, work together, and ensure Full Council votes yes to unlocking this investment and keeping DSA moving forward.”

 

Also a piece today by Dan Fell, trying to get support, after having some negative feedback at a public meeting:

“Last night, I once more had the privilege of chairing a public meeting about DSA with Oliver Coppard. The event demonstrated the strong opinions that are held within our community about the airport; it also showed how clear-eyed people are about both the risks and rewards of this project.

The discussion was timely because, on 27th November, Doncaster Council will decide whether to accept £159m from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority to facilitate the reopening of DSA, a decision that will shape our region’s economy for decades. To be clear, the decision is far from a foregone conclusion; there is significant jeopardy here.

Whilst not universal, support for DSA from the business community remains overwhelming strong. On the basis of last night - and despite some dissenting voices - residents and communities seem to be equally supportive. That's because, even before closure, DSA contributed around £100m a year to South Yorkshire's economy. A revitalised airport could deliver far more, driving inward investment, trade, tourism, logistics, whilst creating over 10,000 job opportunities and anchoring the Gateway East Investment Zone. No other project in our region offers such transformative potential.

Yes, there are key risks that will require ongoing consideration and mitigation. However, the greater risk now is dither and delay. Further slippage could inhibit the plan for passenger flights in 2028 onwards and reduce confidence in the project.

That’s why Doncaster Chamber of Commerce is asking businesses and residents to act:

* Write to local party leaders and councillors and/or submit a question to Full Council via [email protected].

* Speak up on social media about why DSA matters to you and your business.

* Encourage local politicians to work together to seize this opportunity and prioritise place over politics.

This is the moment to move from campaign to creation. I urge our local leaders to reach across the political aisle, work together, and ensure Full Council votes yes to unlocking this investment and keeping DSA moving forward.”

And yet at no point has anyone been able to elaborate on how this economic benefit will be realised, or why it requires such a huge investment with resulting risk falling mostly on the council tax payer of Doncaster, when in his own admittance the estimated contribution to the economy was £100million per year previously. I’ll say it again, there’s an industrial estate in Thorne that generates more!

Where have the 10,000 jobs come from? Thought it was 5000? Has Coppard ignored his own ‘robust due dilligence’ and gone back to a 9:1 ROI?