Airport campaigners should stop flying in face of reason

From: Howard A Knight, Lyons Street, Sheffield.

ONE has to admire the persistence of the Sheffield Airport proponents, even if their case appears to be devoid of practical logic and commercial reality.

It is worth recalling that when Sheffield Development Corporation – with a board dominated by businessmen appointed by the then Conservative government – examined the options for developing a Sheffield sub-regional airport, its overwhelming first choice was the re-development of RAF Finningley as a public, commercial airport. This was strongly supported by Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and the local business community.

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Unfortunately, the then government advised that Finningley was going to be required by the RAF for the foreseeable future and could not be considered for a change of use.

If, at the time, it was known that Finningley would become available within 15 years, then Sheffield Airport – always very much a risky second-best – would never have been developed. Nothing has changed in the comparative merits of the two sites.

What has changed significantly since that time is the access to, and the range of destinations from, Manchester Airport. Now, the direct rail route from Sheffield to the airport together with a comprehensive range of flights to most parts of the world means that Manchester is a realistic alternative to London airports for most destinations. Further, Eurostar, via St Pancras, provides the preferred route to Brussels or Paris.

The argument that Doncaster Airport is too far from Sheffield is completely spurious. Travelling time from Sheffield to Doncaster Airport is less than the travelling time from most city airports to their city centres. It is noticeable that Sheffield Chamber of Commerce has been silent on this debate.

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I’m a fairly frequent business flyer. Recent weeks have included UK flights to and from Belarus, to Bangladesh, Dubai to Kenya, Spain to Somalia. Many factors determine the chosen route for each journey.

However, like most frequent flyers, I will always prefer a direct flight as connections at hub airports – Heathrow, Amsterdam, Vienna, Dubai – inevitably involve time-wasting changes of terminal and regular missed connecting flights.

Similarly, unless it’s my final destination, I will always try to avoid airports with few flights as any interruption will inevitably result in many hours’, or even days’, delay.

A Sheffield airport, with few flights, requiring a change at a connecting hub to reach the 
final destination, is never going 
to be the route of choice compared with a direct flight 
from Manchester (Dubai), Luton (Kiev) or even Gatwick (Freetown), with each airport reached by rail.

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I have two simple questions for the Sheffield Airport campaigners.

Can they name a single commercial airline which, if it is believed there was sufficient local demand for hub-flights, would choose to use Sheffield rather than Doncaster?

Can the Federation of Small Businesses publish the results of its consultations with Sheffield-based frequent flyers, which has led to its support for this campaign?

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