Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones has said “pessimistic” reduced figures for passenger and freight numbers at a reopened Doncaster Sheffield Airport due to be part of lease changes can be beaten.

Provisionally-agreed changes to the controversial DSA lease include entirely removing a ‘break clause’ in 2031 which would allow either City of Doncaster Council or landowner Peel to exit the deal if key targets are not being met. Break clause targets in place for 2036 will also be effectively halved.

There had been concern about the ability for the reopened DSA to achieve the targets given some of them were above the most optimistic official estimates. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority said its investment may prove ‘abortive’ unless the terms were changed.

The lease, which was leaked to The Yorkshire Post in January, revealed that a break clause could have been triggered by Peel or the council in March 2031 if minimum figures of one million passengers a year and 13,000 tonnes of freight were not being hit. A council paper said that the 2031 clause has been removed entirely.

Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster, has made reopening the airport her 'number one priority'. Photograph by Tony Johnson.

placeholder image — Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster, has made reopening the airport her 'number one priority'. Photograph by Tony Johnson.

Meanwhile, a second break point in March 2036 put the minimum required figures at 2.3m passengers and at least 25,000 tonnes of freight. The numbers needed to be maintained to prevent break clauses being triggered in March 2039 and every five years thereafter.

But the 2036 figures are now due to be reduced to one million passengers and 13,000 tonnes of freight.

The new clauses set a target of 41,000 tonnes of freight by 2041 and in future years until 2056, while passenger numbers need to reach 1.4m by 2041 and eventually get to 2.3m by 2056.

Mayor Jones told the council meeting: “I would argue the targets are pessimistic and we can easily achieve and surpass them.”

She said there were ongoing talks with a ‘household name’ company which wants to run 20 cargo flights a week out of DSA and bring hundreds of jobs to the area. The council said last week the unnamed firm could bring around 80,000 tonnes of freight per year through DSA.

She also said discussions are taking place with “national, international and European airlines”, including holiday giant Tui.

‘High case’ official forecasts have previously said there would be 1.9m passengers by 2036 - 400,000 below the current break clause level.

SYMCA has previously said the high case numbers need to be hit for the project to be affordable within its current funding envelope.

The intended break clause changes remain “on hold” while discussions continue on whether taxpayer funding can be excluded from a turnover rent clause entitling Peel to 20 per cent of future airport revenues above annual base rent payments.

Mayor Jones said: “We are ensuring we meet all the requirements but we are not going to commit to a 10-year lease until we meet all the requirements.

"It would be financially irresponsible to commit to a 10-year lease without getting everything sorted.”

When asked if she had any regrets about the original lease signed in 2024, she said: “We signed the lease to ensure we could keep the airport open. We have got break clauses in there to ensure we weren’t committing funding we couldn’t recoup.”