Campaigners hoping to see the reintroduction of passenger flights from Doncaster Sheffield Airport next year have been told they are unlikely to operate until 2028.
Doncaster Council has said it wants to airport to reopen in spring 2026 but South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said that, even if that happened: “We would be unlikely to see commercial passenger flights into or out of DSA before 2028, albeit we will of course aim for that to happen sooner.”
But he did say ‘there will be things happening sooner’, such as freight and private flights, which are ‘easier’ to arrange, if, or when, the airport does reopen, the Yorkshire Post reports.
He also said the airport could not survive by purely operating ‘low-cost holiday flights’.
The reopening is reliant on devolution funding from the Mayoral Combined Authority, which campaigners had hoped would be made available in February, but the decision has been delayed.
Oliver told a meeting on Tuesday he was doing ‘proper due diligence’ to ensure the £150m of public money was worth spending on the project.
Doncaster Council says the airport could create 5,000 direct jobs and could bring an economic benefit of £9 for every £1 spent. It also hopes to have up to five airlines operating from DSA.
But Oliver said: “We know the commercial aviation and passenger forecasts have the potential to make or break this project, and that at the lower end of those forecasts do have the potential to undermine the viability of DSA.
“But we also know now that the wider South Yorkshire Airport City project will not, cannot, solely be focused on providing low-cost holiday flights.
“There is no future for a regional airport in South Yorkshire with a business model solely concerned with commercial passenger flights.
“We now know that the cost-benefit ratio of reopening DSA may be lower than we initially understood, but with the right conditions the project could still provide a strong economic and social benefit to South Yorkshire, and a decent return to taxpayers over the long-term.”
He said he is still committed to saving DSA.
