Plan to expand airport given public's backing

Ninety per cent of people asked expressed strong support for the proposal to revamp the airport to target 25 million passengers from the suburbs of North London to the borders of Scotland.

If successful, the masterplan would create 73,000 jobs and establish an ‘aerotropolis’ akin to those seen around major US airports.

Key to making all of this happen is the establishment of an East Coast Mainline station at the airport, linking it with the capital and placing millions of potential passengers within a 90 minute journey time of the airport.

The station proposal was particularly popular with the public. which the airport said could be operational by 2025 and would alleviate congestion around the capital by reducing the need to travel to Heathrow or Gatwick.

Public feedback will now be fed into a final masterplan document, due to be published at the end of the year.

Airport bosses have reached out to the extended business and local community, staging a number of information events at schools and public places to spread the message of what it is tying to achieve.

In terms of what the public response, access to detinations, connectivity and airport infrastructure were the main areas upon which they wanted further development.

The expansion process will cost £280m but deliver an economic boost of £3.2bn to the wider UK economy.

The airport also wants to boost the volume of cargo it handles to 250,000 tonnes a year and host the construction of 8,500 new homes within its site

Meanwhile the airport has announced a new route to Budapest with budget airline Whizz Air.

The new three weekly service will take off with effect from October 29 and comes hot on the heels of a route to Debrecen being announced just weeks ago.

This new route to Budapest will bring a total of five flights per week and almost 100,000 seats to Hungary, making DSA the best-connected airport to this region from Yorkshire and the North of England.

Chris Harcombe, aviation development director, Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said: “Wizz air is an important strategic partner of DSA. Since opening operations in 2006 we have worked together in partnership to develop a growing range of routes with over 3 million passengers carried.

“As one of Europe’s leading low cost Airlines renowned for low fares and exceptional service we share many of the same values.”