Doncaster Sheffield Airport to reopen?

[pug1]

As we've been through before, DSA offers them nothing but increased costs as the catchment population is entirely covered by MAN, EMA and LBA. There isn't a 'new' or untapped population/market. All flying from DSA would do would be to reduce loads on flights from the other three airports at the cost of extra fuel, fees, staff, airframes etc.

That's why they've never been interested.

This was the gamble Peel accepted when they opened the airport initially. There is no strong independent market in South Yorkshire waiting to be exploited. It’s heavily fragmented and highly competitive with huge amounts of choice. The gamble Peel accepted was that they offered a better product than the competitors and that they’d therefore abandon other airports to focus on DSA. Except for TUI this failed.

The SY authorities have made a fatal miscalculation here and are wholly naive to the nuances of regional commercial aviation. @Killingworth is correct in that some airlines may take the bait if there is a significant financial incentive that removes the risk, or de-risks it to an acceptable level. However when we know that the money they do have might not even be enough to get the airport open I’m not sure where the many millions required annually to sufficiently cushion the risk will come from. It also opens the doors to legal challenge on anti-competition grounds.

 

[Msq71423]

An interesting article on the BBC today:

BBC News - Aspiring air traffic controllers learn the ropes - BBC News

Aspiring air traffic controllers learn the ropes

Student controllers get to grips with the job at Doncaster Sheffield Airport ahead of its reopening.

www.bbc.co.uk

Unfortunately my phone won't allow me to copy and paste the article here, hopefully someone else may be able and willing to do this!

 

[Killingworth]

An interesting article on the BBC today:

BBC News - Aspiring air traffic controllers learn the ropes - BBC News

Aspiring air traffic controllers learn the ropes

Student controllers get to grips with the job at Doncaster Sheffield Airport ahead of its reopening.

www.bbc.co.uk

Unfortunately my phone won't allow me to copy and paste the article here, hopefully someone else may be able and willing to do this!

There's optimism, but the trainees will be gaining transferable skils.

I am reminded of an old Yes Minister episode where they have a well staffed new hospital - but no patients or medical staff! All expense with none of the planned for medical outcomes.

 

[pug1]

An interesting article on the BBC today:

BBC News - Aspiring air traffic controllers learn the ropes - BBC News

Aspiring air traffic controllers learn the ropes

Student controllers get to grips with the job at Doncaster Sheffield Airport ahead of its reopening.

www.bbc.co.uk

Unfortunately my phone won't allow me to copy and paste the article here, hopefully someone else may be able and willing to do this!

The sim is basically e-waste that is useless anywhere else so they’ve most likely bought it from Peel for a song.

It is not ‘news’. What it is is a distraction, this news was released initially around the time it was leaked from a council briefing that the project is set to run out of cash in September and if the lease isn’t signed and Gainshare approved prior to the SYMCA board meeting in mid-September then it’s ’over Basically’.

Meanwhile the CAA have serious reservations regarding the Airspace Change proposal. They uploaded their full stage 2 assessment on 14th of this month only for it to be pulled from the portal within a couple of hours. I have a copy though, and it’s not looking good. Anyway, the CAA have confirmed that the council have met the procedural requirements to progress stage 3 consultation. So of course the council are using this news as a signal of ‘momentum! When in actual fact the consultation is likely to be useless because many of the CAAs concerns will not be allayed, not to mention the various stakeholders poised to challenge it! The removal of the assessment will only muddy the waters.

Complete farce. I only hope these recruits are able to complete their training and get jobs elsewhere.

 

[gabrielhj07]

What airspace are they trying to get back? Surely not everything it had before?

 

[pug1]

What airspace are they trying to get back? Surely not everything it had before?

They had three initial airspace design options. They’ve gone with the one that gives them a slightly smaller footprint, but the CAA’s issue isn’t the choice itself — it’s that they dropped one of the other options without providing a defensible rationale. Not a catastrophic finding, but it is a finding, and it shows the process hasn’t been as watertight as they’re trying to present.

The bit the press latched onto is the more serious one: the CAA calling the passenger forecasts ‘particularly speculative’ which, in CAA language, is basically ‘your numbers don’t stack up’. When the regulator uses that phrasing, it’s a polite way of saying the modelling isn’t credible enough to support the airspace case.

 

[BrianW]

I agree that this is not 'news'. Someone has approved/ instructed the 'investment' of time/money/aspirations in this 'PR Opportunity'; they must be accountable to someone somewhere at some time. Perhaps it will 'pay off' !!

Is Government still giving encouraging noises? For instance what involvement has the Mayor of Gtr Manchester had in Manchester Airport. Greater devolution coming in to land?

 

[pug1]

I agree that this is not 'news'. Someone has approved/ instructed the 'investment' of time/money/aspirations in this 'PR Opportunity'; they must be accountable to someone somewhere at some time. Perhaps it will 'pay off' !!

Is Government still giving encouraging noises? For instance what involvement has the Mayor of Gtr Manchester had in Manchester Airport. Greater devolution coming in to land?

I think they’re hoping that a change at the top, plus greater focus on regional fiscal autonomy, might enable them to push this through without the significant scrutiny applied on the accountable financial officers. The S151 people tend to want to say yes to things like this, but it’s ultimately their liability if the financials don’t stack up, and in the case of DSA they certainly don’t!

I do believe Burnham will have a working relationship with Peel. I do believe Peel will not sugar coat it. If he chooses to back this lame horse then it will be for political optics in the knowledge that it might very well come back to bite him. I do expect they’ll find some more cash in September to keep things ticking over and maintain the outward sense of momentum. It should however be wrapped up pronto, but politics don’t do sensibility at times do they.