Doncaster Sheffield Airport freehold deal is ‘boosting airline negotiations’

The plan to reopen the airport in Finningley took a step closer last month, as South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard revealed he had agreed a deal to buy the land from owner Peel.

Previously, Fly Doncaster, the arms-length council body set up to run DSA, had been due to use the airstrip through a lease agreement, which had a number of controversial clauses.

Mr Coppard’s deal removes significant barriers to the airport reopening, although a timeline for commercial airlines could be delayed.

However, the prospective agreement to buy the freehold is already helping negotiations with such airlines, a source told this paper.

“The uncertainty around the lease was always the first thing airlines raised,” they said.

It included a number of break clauses which Peel could unilaterally enact at various points going forward.

These will be removed when the deal is confirmed, with sign off being awaited from Peel’s board.

A spokesperson for the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority said: “The purchase of the airport and surrounding sites is a complex legal transaction.

“Our respective legal teams are currently working through the legal documentation with a view to completing the deal at the earliest opportunity.”

It is expected that freight carriers could be announced in the new year, with commercial airlines being revealed towards the end of 2027.

Mr Coppard previously revealed that DSA was in talks with Tui and Wizz Air, the last two carriers to operate out of the airport when it closed in 2022.

However, the current climate is a particularly tough time for low-cost carriers with the economic turbulence from the war in the Middle East.

Wizz Air recently announced its first-half profits reduced by 67 per cent over higher jet fuel prices and disruption from conflicts.

“In addition to capacity growth across several new markets, the summer capacity expansion increasingly focused on network improvements,” the firm said in a statement.

Meanwhile, EasyJet recently withdrew from Leeds Bradford Airport ending a 16-year stay at Yorkshire’s main terminal.

Aviation expert John Strickland, who hails from Ilkley and worked with several airlines including British Airways, has warned it is a “particularly tough” time for the industry at the moment.

“Right now the context of aviation is particularly tough based on geopolitics,” Mr Strickland explained.

“That may have no direct bearing on Doncaster Sheffield Airport, but it’s indicative of the challenges that the industry faces.

“Overall, what these things have done, with the situation in the Middle East, is push fuel prices up incredibly high, so we’re looking at a pretty tough winter.

“The challenge that Doncaster Sheffield Airport will face is winning airlines.”

Following the announcement of the freehold purchase, a report for SYMCA from aviation experts warned of the prospect of a “multi-year delay” to regular passenger flights from the site.

The unnamed consultancy said the experts considered the base and low-case scenarios as “most likely to occur” - with the latter involving current economic challenges causing “a multi-year delay before commercial airlines begin to use the airport in a significant way”.

But it added that freight demand is stronger than previously assumed, even in the low-case scenario.

The ‘base case’ scenario involves commercial passenger flights starting more quickly and freight demand remaining strong. The high-case scenario suggests DSA could benefit “from a period of consolidation from airlines”, resulting in more airlines being based there.