Doncaster Sheffield Airport: councillors approve multi-million pound loan to reopen airport
Councillors have voted to approve borrowing some £57m for Doncaster Sheffield Airport, the final legislative hurdle in the reopening plans.
Labour Mayor Ros Jones was supported by Reform UK group leader Coun Guy Aston to ensure the City of Doncaster Council could borrow the funds.
A round of applause broke out in the chamber this afternoon as the vote was confirmed, with 42 councillors voting in favour and nine voting against.
The rebels included six members of the Conservative group, and an additional three councillors who may have been Reform or independent members.
The vote will be of huge relief for Ms Jones, who sees her promise to reopen DSA take one step closer.
She said: “I cannot emphasise enough the number of people who are just saying ‘just get on with it’ and ‘less talk more action’.
“Fully reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport is set to be the largest single investment in Doncaster for more than a generation, with unrivalled economic opportunities for our residents and businesses.
“It has gone through scrutiny and extensive due diligence over the last 12 months and now I just want to see our airport fully reopened.”
It always appeared likely the borrowing would get approved when Coun Aston announced he was in agreement with the mayor over the need to borrow £57m to get the airport up and running.
This stated the pair agreed on a need for external private investment in DSA at the “most opportune time”.
Reports suggested that there was some disquiet amongst his councillors - the majority on City of Doncaster Council - for “getting into bed” with Labour.
The proposed borrowing is not due to a shortfall in funding, rather to front-load the gainshare funding approved by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) in September 2025.
The SYMCA funding is delivered to Doncaster Council, and then Fly Doncaster Ltd, in yearly instalments worth around £6m, not enough in the early years of reopening.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard told The Yorkshire Post: “I’m pleased that the Reform leader has decided he can support our plans to reopen the airport.
“I do think it’s a shame to take it this long to get that agreement.
“It has injected uncertainty into the process which has been unhelpful.”
Overall the cost to the public purse of the reopening is now expected to hit £193m.
Council papers show that DSA is expected to operate at a loss of up to £81m over the first nine years.
Munich Airport International has agreed to operate the airport, which would be owned by an arms-length council body called Fly Doncaster.
It is hoped that commercial flights will take off from 2028, with talks involving TUI and Wizz Air returning ongoing.
The council is predicting that from 2034 onwards the airport will start to make a profit, totalling £230m before tax and interest by 2049.
Under the previous owners, Peel Group, the airport made a loss in every financial year from 2005 to until it closed in 2022, totalling £180m.
Communities Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, who was visiting Doncaster yesterday to announce £20m in funding for the city centre, said: “I’m excited it’s all coming together.
“Our job is to crack on with the urgency and pace that I know people want us to know when it comes to changing their place.”