Doncaster Sheffield Airport: £20m 'mobilisation' funding agreed ahead of summer reopening decision
Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones has reiterated her belief that the city’s airport can still reopen next spring despite a “challenging timeline” as millions in extra funding was approved for the project.
It comes after £20m of public funding was approved towards “mobilisation” activities for reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport under plans which will see a City of Doncaster Council-owned company called FlyDoncaster take charge of the site.
It is intended that more than £100m will be loaned by the council to Fly Doncaster using its share of devolution funding overseen by South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard. However, a decision on whether the money will be provided has been delayed until summer with the mayor’s office seeking independent advice on whether to proceed due to concerns about the “significant risks” to public money.
Earlier this week, the mayor’s office agreed to provide £10m in the interim towards “essential costs” of working towards a spring 2026 reopening date while on Wednesday morning Doncaster Council’s cabinet approved a further £10m of funding itself towards the same goal.
A report to the council’s cabinet, which has put the public cost of reopening the airport at over £145m, said the mayoral money will go towards “in-year costs including rent, utilities and rates, site security and maintenance, insurance, staffing and professional costs” while the £10m of council cash “will be carefully applied on activities necessary in relation to the airspace and essential capital investment required for the site to meet the necessary Civil Aviation Authority certification standards and will only be spent were critical”.
The report states: “There is a risk that spending up to £20m, even with careful management to ensure only essential costs are incurred, may produce little or no benefits if the full business case is not ultimately approved.”
In a statement issued after the meeting, Mayor Ros Jones said it is still hoped the airport can reopen by next spring as previously suggested.
She said: “Re-opening our airport is my number one priority, I am vigorously pursuing the reopening of our airport and despite the challenging timeline, our plan is to see our airport open in Spring 2026.
“The financial package will enable critical mobilisation works to continue and drive forward momentum in our drive to reopen the airport given its strategic importance to Doncaster, South Yorkshire and the North. I would like to thank South Yorkshire leaders for their continued support of our airport with their further funding approval.
“The residents and businesses of Doncaster are behind us, proven by the over 130,000 people who signed a petition. This is the people’s airport and I will do all I can to ensure it drives forward economic success, new jobs, growth and prosperity.”
Under the council’s plans, Munich Airport International GmbH (MAI) will provide operational and management services to FlyDoncaster, while it is also working with aviation specialists FP Airports Ltd on the scheme.
The council argues that the reopening of the airport could pave the way for wider regeneration work around the site and create 5,000 direct jobs by 2050.
But concerns have been raised about its plans by rival airports including Leeds Bradford Airport in regard to the planned public subsidy to restart operations. Of the £105m in loans planned for FlyDoncaster, the low rate of interest means the money would equate to an effective public grant of almost £90m.
A report by consultancy York Aviation submitted to the Government’s Subsidy Advice Unit by Leeds Bradford Airport has warned that further public funding is likely to be required due to DSA’s loss-making history.
Companies House figures for Doncaster Sheffield Airport Limited analysed by The Yorkshire Post show it made operating losses in every year of private operation, collectively adding up to almost £180m. More than £140m of this was prior to 2020 and Covid affecting airport revenues globally due to pandemic travel restrictions.