Doncaster airport

[donnyguy]

Big announcement coming at 11am. Lots of rumours either closing or peel selling. But could be anything I guess

[turnbull for england]

We flew from there last week  and it would be a crying shame . Used exec lounge and was through security in minutes. Landed back at330 am and was in house two hours later all sorted.

[Donnywolf]

https://flydsa.co.uk/latest-news/strategic-review-announcement

it looks bleak now

[Glyn_Wigley]

Rename it Doncaster City Airport so people know where it actually is!

[DonnyOsmond]

Build a train stop at the terminal and it'll be a lot easier for people not locally to get to it.

[selby]

  That's a council cash cow gone.

[mugnapper]

Would Ryanair be interested in a new hub? Obviously O'leary would want  a financially advantageous deal.

[selby]

  Is it part of a bigger picture and the return of private transport being only  within the reach of the wealthy, in the name of cutting pollution and saving the world.
  Don't forget the bastion of the working man John Prescott and his plan to have one lane exclusively for executives on the motor ways in and out of London.
  Covid curtailed travel for the masses, from my own experiences motoring became a pleasure and easy, going through the centre of Leeds a breeze, Bradford the same, relaxing motorway traffic with only heavy goods vehicles about, flying abroad, a few extra pieces of paper showing vaccinations, but no kids flying about its a breeze.
  Just like the 1920s when only the right sort of people had private transport, how the good and mighty must have loved it. 
   Is the answer make it expensive and exclusive?

[graingrover]

It is ideally situated to be as successful for freight business as my local airport in Liege I have for over a year passed on news and ideas implemented over here to Doncaster via the Mayor( ess) .It requires lots of work negotiating with not only carriers but trading channels like Amazon and especially Alibaba .Yes there is a crisis of passenger travel due to covid and fuel prices but Liege has developed tens of thousands of local jobs with the same economic environment as Donny .
https://www.liegeairport.com/flexport/en/

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Couldn't even get a seat in the terminal at the weekend so can't blame the lack of demand. Perhaps management focussed on an airport rather than the land would help.  Hopefully someone else buys it as it's great.  You only have to see the poor experience the bigger airports offer to know it's needed.

[danumdon]

Great shame this would be if it does close.

When you look at this rationally it was always going to be a hard sell after they tried but couldn't attract other operators back in the period up to 2014. When you factor that into the the issue that you have 3 larger airports all within approx 1 hours drive from here then you have a very big job on your hands to make an impression.

The freight side never really developed as much as you thought it would, this along with the economic down turn after the pandemic will have stripped the coffers fro the management group.

Shame, always been great for us as its less than 10 mins away and always been handy for a quick 2 hour flight to somewhere warm without having to spend all day getting there and in and out of the place.

Hope they can sell to someone with more ambition to turn the place into the success it should be.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The catchment area alone and good transport links suggests logistically it's worthy of a commercial airport plus, it would relieve pressure off Leeds Bradford and East mids, so somewhere in between, we're not hearing the full SP why it's not 'commercially viable'

It would be a travesty if it's allowed to close.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Would Ryanair be interested in a new hub? Obviously O'leary would want  a financially advantageous deal.

It could be their new Liverpool connection

[keith79]

Doncaster council shouldn't be wasting any money trying to keep it open. (Jmo)

[Chris the Rover]

This is shocking news.It will be interesting to see the government’s response, as this is not in line with their ‘levelling up’ policy. This airport is ideal for expansion, not closure.

[Donnywolf]

Peel have a colossal presence in Land and it was a win win for them to "bankroll" DSA

They got the land around to develop and money I take it from owning the Airport . However if / when the latter went t**s up or they deemed it wasn't viable they then have the whole Airport site to develop

They own swathes of land alongside Manchester Ship Canal maybe the Canal itself and have developed lots of things you will know of already around they Salford Quays , Media Centre , Trafford Centre.

They won't give a seconds thought to DSA going and no incentive to keep it going.

https://www.peel.co.uk/investments/real-estate/land-and-property/


Click on link at bottom of page to see their tentacles

[turnbull for england]

Good job we've got a strong, stable government to make sure the leveling up policy is upheld

[Donnywolf]

Yeah ... It is ... See what the local MP has to say


Govt statement ... Hope Peel have a think and come to the right decision (translation not really needed) 

[phil old leake]

I’m really surprised at this.  I always thought it was a great airport to travel from.  I was commuting every week to N Ireland and it was so convenient
Free parking at the Parrots Corner park and ride and a cheap bus to the airport. 
I thought it was also a regular location for aircraft maintenance etc due to its runway length

It will be a real shame for the local economy if it closes

[normal rules]

It’s bonkers that Manchester airport is under such pressure, yet here is a central location which can handle much more than it is.
If it closes it puts much more pressure on those remaining airports.

[phil old leake]

Good point normal

[Colemans Left Hook]

Doncaster council shouldn't be wasting any money trying to keep it open. (Jmo)

When i read this statement I thought about the Stadium "formerly known as the Keepmoat" and smiled 

[Donnywolf]

I’m really surprised at this.  I always thought it was a great airport to travel from.  I was commuting every week to N Ireland and it was so convenient
Free parking at the Parrots Corner park and ride and a cheap bus to the airport. 
I thought it was also a regular location for aircraft maintenance etc due to its runway length

It will be a real shame for the local economy if it closes

It will be extremely bad if it goes to the wall now after "we" have slugged it out this far

I suppose economically it loses customers because of the premium attached for using DSA rather than say Manchester. A family of 4 will opt for MAN almost everytime maybe even with fuel prices for the car sky rocketing .

However , (no s**t Sherlock) , if the Airport Airlines etc subsidise that amount to a great degree they come to a point where it isn't worth them providing those services
 as they are not charities

Just a pity there cannot be a takeover by MAG who have MAN East Mids & Stansted.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

DW makes a great point you pay a premium at DSA in an area that's not particularly wealthy, you'd think it would be the other way round.  For us it's an easy choice we are 10 mins away and that 2-300 quid isn't the end of the world as we save it in travel, parking, overnight hotel etc.  But it won't attract those from further afield who still require that.

I'll be gutted if it goes.  Flown 3 times from there and bar it being really busy last Saturday to get food it's stress free. The other airports I've flown From this year have had issues, LBA being the worst albeit none terrible.  Dsa really had none.

I've had an email about my December holiday saying not to worry and I'm assuming they'd just move us if the worst happens.

What it needs is someone to take it on and invest but I don't see peel allowing that. What we don't need is more bloody warehouses. The ones we are building here remain empty.  For me it's a test for government and no doubt peel have picked now to challenge that knowing the political environment.

[Filo]

Doncaster Council could just deny planning for anything they want to build on the site

[roversdude]

So the road network has been vastly improved to the airport, ideal for logistics companies/warehousing making the Peel Holding land very attractive. One might wonder if it’s been a long term plan

[danumdon]

Doncaster Council could just deny planning for anything they want to build on the site

Think we've been down this road before, Doncaster council could deny planning permission, The developer would just take it to appeal, and win.

Result, massive field of empty box's.

Criminal. It would not surprise me if Peel Holdings original strategy did not envisage some sort of crisis at the airport site that rendered it un viable, they are then in A1 position to redevelop the whole site, job done.

[danumdon]

Beat me to it RD.

[Branton Red]

So the road network has been vastly improved to the airport, ideal for logistics companies/warehousing making the Peel Holding land very attractive. One might wonder if it’s been a long term plan

My thoughts too. Think the Council and all those naive/barmy FLY (Finningley Local say Yes) campaigners have been well and truly had here.

Thanks for the destruction of the lovely green countryside around southern Donny guys - been really worth it for all those minimum wage/zero hour contract warehouse jobs you've brought us.

Thank goodness no additional tax payers money has been wasted on a white elephant airport railway branch and station as has been regularly mooted.

And if Peel are angling for more public money to subsidise their loss making 3rd rate venture (on which they can continue to reap greater rewards on their land holdings in the vicinity at the expense of our environment and quality of life) I hope, but very much doubt, the penny has dropped with Donny Council and they tell them where to go.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

There's a similarity here to the history of Teeside Airport Inc Peels ownership and takeover by the combined local authorities and Stobart Airport Services.

This maybe the way forward

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teesside_International_Airport