The troubled South Yorkshire airport was mothballed in 2022 when just TUI was operating out of the airport. The City of Doncaster Council has said it is committed to reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport by the spring of 2026
A reopening date has been tabled for Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which has been out of operation since November 2022.
The City of Doncaster Council has said it is committed to reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport by the spring of 2026, West Bridgford Wire reports. The announcement came after South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said he expects to make a decision on releasing gainshare funding for the project in “early September”, which is likely to be crucial for the travel hub’s future viability.
The new timeline means another delay for the project, which was due to start operating this summer. “The plan remains to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport in Spring 2026,” a spokesperson for Mayor Jones said, “There of course remain a number of interdependencies.
“Once we have the Gainshare decision signed off in early September we can finalise our plans, including progressing with our Airspace, signing-up airlines and freight providers and to employ and train the hundreds of staff required to operate an airport.”
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The Northern travel hub was previously operated from just TUI before the Peel Group declared it financially unviable and closed its doors in 2022. However, the new operators of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, FlyDoncaster, a company established by Doncaster Council, have expressed confidence in the airport’s financial viability upon reopening.
At its peak in 2016, 1.25million passengers moved through the airport in a year.
German firm Munich Airport International (MAI) will be providing operational and management services. In February this year Dr Lutz Weisser, managing director for MAI, stated that while it was “too early” to announce airlines or destinations, lengthy and confidential discussions with airlines were ongoing.
“The UK is a very important aviation market and we are interested in Doncaster because it is all there. This is not a greenfield project, this is not something that needs to be built. You don’t have the risks of planning approval or construction and all these other things,” he said, according to the BBC.
“It may need some renovation, and recertification is important, but it is all in place. It just needs a bit of polishing and then you have an airport and that is exciting.”
Christian Foster, the council programme director and director of FlyDoncaster, revealed forward-looking plans at a recent council meeting, emphasising the intention to diversify airline operations at Doncaster. According to the Sun, he said: “Working with our advisers from Munich we are very clear we want to target a number of airlines and have already been having those conversations for over 12 months with certain airlines.
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“Having a strategy where you only have an airport with one airline doesn’t work for Doncaster and hence we want a minimum of four to five and that’s where we are working at. We are very keen to get our airspace returned back to 24 hours for next year.”
Meanwhile, TUI has dropped strong hints of making a comeback to Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which was once part of its network flying travellers to sunny destinations like Cyprus and Spain. Reflecting on past connections, a TUI spokesperson said in February: “TUI has always supported Doncaster Sheffield Airport, proudly flying customers from the region and were disappointed when the airport closed. We’re excited about actively engaging with stakeholders about a potential re-opening.”