Doncaster Sheffield Airport bosses reveal 'advanced talks' with major freight business in midst of £57m funding row
Bosses at Doncaster Sheffield Airport say they are in “advanced talks” with a major international business which would bring triple the amount of annual freight through the site than was achieved under private ownership.
The update comes in the middle of a growing political row over funding for the airport, which has seen interventions from Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage.
Officials say an unnamed freight integrator business hopes to bring “up to 20 flights per week” to the airport, resulting in 80,000 tonnes of freight per year passing through DSA. They said it is intended the business would open a site near the airport, “potentially bringing hundreds of additional jobs to the area”.
They said they are unable to name the business “due to the sensitivity of commercial relationships” but claim the interested party wants to move forward “as soon as possible”.
Christian Foster, director of FlyDoncaster, said: “We have always said that there is a huge opportunity to expand upon the freight operations here at the airport. Before 2022, freight operations peaked at around 24,000 tonnes of freight per annum.
"We know there is significant capacity to increase this, and the interested party would do so more than threefold at a stroke. This demonstrates the significant amount of interest that exists around DSA and the role the airport will play in helping to re-shape the UK supply-chain.”
Gary Winterman, Head of Cargo and General Aviation at the airport, said: “This is a major international business looking to locate their operations at Doncaster Sheffield Airport. What’s more, they want to execute these plans as soon as humanly possible, which is something the experienced team here at the airport stand ready to deliver.
“This business aren’t in discussions with any alternative airports for this project – DSA is a unique site with unique attributes that can bring massive value to their operations. We are seeing a huge amount of interest in this site, which will bring jobs and economic activity to the airport in the short to medium term.”
City of Doncaster Council is seeking to reopen the airport, which closed in November 2022, via a council-owned company called FlyDoncaster amidst a growing political row about how the project is being funded.
An extraordinary council meeting on May 11 could result in £57m borrowing agreed in November being pulled for the project. Reform and the Conservatives say councillors did not have the full information at the time of the vote, with controversial clauses contained within the lease subsequently revealed by The Yorkshire Post in January.
Labour has argued that cancelling the loan facility, which would be used from next year, would “kill” the airport project. Both Reform and the Tories say they want to reopen the airport but are concerned about the council’s financial exposure under the current plans.
Keir Starmer said on Wednesday: “I’m deeply concerned by reports that decisions by Reform in Doncaster could put the reopening in jeopardy. Labour put the plan in place, Reform should honour their promises, stop playing games and get their airport open.”
The £57m borrowing is due to be used in advance of devolution funding controlled by the office of South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard being delivered. But this money will only be released when the lease is renegotiated with landowner Peel, with no agreement yet in place.
Concerns about break clauses “in favour of the landowner” on achieving passenger number targets above the most optimistic forecasts and “clarifying points in relation to turnover rent” are among the key areas being discussed.
When devolution funding was signed off by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority in September, the planned release of the funding included a condition that a number of clauses within the lease were changed, with a board paper at the time stating an “in-principle agreement” had been reached with Peel.
However, The Yorkshire Post subsequently confirmed that the “in-principle agreement” only related to which areas of the lease could be subject to renegotiation rather than any confirmed changes to the current terms.
When asked about the progress of negotiations, Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said this week: “The lease is very near complete but of course we need to get this funding through and guaranteed so we know where we are going.”
Reform has said this week it would potentially look to make a compulsory purchase of the DSA site as a way forward for the project – something Labour has argued would delay the project for years and have no guarantee of success.
Nigel Farage told BBC Radio Leeds on Wednesday: "We want this airport open but the deal that is currently proposed would be a disaster for taxpayers in Doncaster. The council, under this deal, is not getting the freehold.
"We want this deal to go ahead. We have examined this, we have looked at this, the council in the deal must get the freehold. Then we can negotiate with other people to be providers. As it is my fear is it would become a financial millstone around the necks of Doncaster Council taxpayers.
"This airport effectively went bust and needs saving. We want to save this airport. But we don’t want it to be a massive drain on council taxpayers year-on-year that leads to it closing again. We are fighting and working for a better deal.”