Doncaster’s airport is this week being supported by £20m to press ahead with its planned mobilisation programme.
City of Doncaster Council’s Cabinet has approved a £10m funding package to continue with the plan of re-opening the former Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) in Spring 2026. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has also matched that figure.
The council’s cabinet heard yesterday (February 12) in a report the progress made to date on the programme to reopen the site which closed in 2022.
Mayor Ros Jones said: “Re-opening our airport is my number one priority, I am vigorously pursuing the reopening of our airport and despite the challenging timeline, our plan is to see our airport open in Spring 2026.
“The financial package will enable critical mobilisation works to continue and drive forward momentum in our drive to reopen the airport given its strategic importance to Doncaster, South Yorkshire and the North. I would like to thank South Yorkshire leaders for their continued support of our airport with their further funding approval.
“The residents and businesses of Doncaster are behind us, proven by the over 130,000 people who signed a petition. This is the people’s airport and I will do all I can to ensure it drives forward economic success, new jobs, growth and prosperity.”
The council’s £10m funding proposal is one off funding from the priorities revenue budget, coupled with £10m proposed by SYMCA for revenue costs which was approved on Tuesday. (February 11).
The council funding would help support work to secure the airport’s suspended airspace and essential work needed to meet the necessary Civil Aviation Authority’s certification standards. The SYMCA funding in the form of a grant will support costs associated with managing the site.
The cabinet report also sets out the arrangements and scope of FlyDoncaster Ltd, a wholly-owned council company, initiated last year to operate the airport alongside strategic partners Munich Airport International GmbH (MAI), which will provide operational and management services, and FP Airports Ltd, aviation sector specialists in the UK.
An outline business case on the financial and economic benefits of reopening the airport was approved by SYMCA last February. A Full Business Case (FBC) has been submitted which is due for determination in the summer.
The FBC highlights the scale of economic growth potential should the opportunity be realised: over 5,000 gross direct jobs by 2050; GVA uplift of £5bn (cumulatively by 2050); gross welfare benefits (cumulatively by 2050) of £2bn; a project benefit cost ratio of 9:1; and a region in the vanguard of the next technological revolution, building on core regional capabilities, and reconnected by air to global markets.
