Doncaster Sheffield Airport: Business leaders back proposal for old DSA airspace to be reinstated
Business leaders in South Yorkshire have again thrown their weight behind Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) in a letter supporting the reinstatement of the site’s former airspace used before closure.
The chief executives of the region’s three Chambers of Commerce penned a joint statement ahead of the City of Doncaster Council’s new airspace consultation due to take place this year – a crucial step on the journey towards a decision from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Dan Fell MBE, chief executive of the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, said: “Doncaster Sheffield Airport is South Yorkshire’s flagship regeneration project. Reinstating its airspace is fundamental to delivering jobs, investment and connectivity for our region.
“The business community stands firmly behind this process and urges swift progress.”
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), having approved airspace over DSA is vital for the return of a fully operational airport.
The LDRS understands that without approved airspace, Doncaster Council believes the CAA would limit them to one or two operators conducting freight and passenger services.
In the letter, Mr Fell, Sheffield’s Louisa Harrison-Walker and Rotherham and Barnsley’s Carrie Sudbury, said: “Whilst not unanimous, support for the reopening of DSA is significant within South Yorkshire’s diverse business communities.
“Indeed, there is a majority view that a reopened and successful airport can be catalytic for South Yorkshire’s economy.”
The letter highlighted the importance of approved airspace for passenger flights and stated that without it, numerous economic benefits, including the creation of around 5,000 jobs, “cannot be realised”.
In meetings with the CAA prior to the approval of Doncaster’s gainshare funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) in September 2025, representatives of Doncaster Council told the CAA they believed approving the “tried and tested” airspace previously used would be the safest and fastest option.
This option was backed by the region’s business chambers in their letter, where they highlighted that the old airspace operated safely and effectively for 17 years before the airport closed in 2022.
The timeline for getting airspace approval looks set to stretch into 2027, after the CAA published its forward plan for the decision last week.
According to the document, the CAA is not expecting to decide on DSA’s airspace until May 2027.
It means that if freight flights return to DSA in Summer 2026, as predicted by Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones in September 2025, it would likely be only one operator.
This also would have been the case with Doncaster Council’s proposed timeline, shared with the CAA before September’s gainshare funding decision by the SYMCA.
Officials from the council projected a CAA decision would not come until Q4 2026, after the projected return for freight flights from Mayor Jones.
Contrastingly, Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire, predicted freight flights would return in 2027 – much more in line with Doncaster Council’s initial timeline and with the CAA’s plan published in 2026.