Why the future of Doncaster Sheffield Airport is in doubt

It was opened in 2005 as a new airport for northern England and once boasted regional connections from Flybe as well as holiday flights.

But the future for Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) is now in doubt after its owners said the business “may no longer be commercially viable”.

Peel Group, which has piled significant sums of money into the former RAF Finningley, is now considering whether the site could be better used for something else and has begun an ominous “review of strategic options”.

It has already developed a business park close to the airport.

DSA still has Tui flights to holiday destinations, but the rebooted Flybe never returned and Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air abruptly announced in June that it was closing its base at the airport and cancelling “a large number of flights”.

The airline said the move was “a result of Doncaster Sheffield Airport indicating that it is unable to guarantee the terms of its commercial agreement with Wizz Air”.

It seems the Wizz announcement was the final straw for Peel Group coming after Covid and a shortfall in passenger numbers.

Chair Robert Hough 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.”

In fact, Wednesday’s statement admits the airport has never made a penny in profit.

“Despite growth in passenger numbers, DSA has never achieved the critical mass required to become profitable,” it says.

Along with “increasingly important environmental considerations,” it notes, Peel Group “has concluded that aviation activity may no longer be the use for the site which delivers the maximum economic and environmental benefit to the region.”

The UK has far more airport capacity than it needs and – as with Sheffield City airport, which opened and swiftly closed a generation ago – Doncaster Sheffield appears too close to other gateways:

Of course, threatening to close a major piece of infrastructure is a fairly effective way of shaking down public investment agencies for financial support, and the absence of competition could make DSA attractive for another airline to step in as passenger numbers slowly recover post-Covid.

Meanwhile, the airport continues to operate for passengers. On Thursday, it will handle 13 flights from Dubrovnik to Dalaman and Bucharest to Bourgas.

But it would not be the first airport to hedge its bets on an alternative use of valuable space.

Teesside International Airport, near Darlington, is developing an adjacent business park that could create up to 4,400 new jobs and could see a new mile-long link road to the A67. The airport recently lost its strategically important air link to Heathrow, not helped by the London airport’s eyewatering passenger fees.

While alternative uses for DSA could cut losses and maybe create more jobs, it would be a fresh connectivity blow for South Yorkshire, which recently lost its planned HS2 connection and faster rail services to Manchester Airport.

The environmental case for curbing airports and their expansion is much weaker in cases where passengers would be forced to reach alternatives by road.