Doncaster Sheffield Airport to reopen?

[Killingworth]

I think that would be the sensible solution. I’m convinced that in a scenario where DSA didn’t reopen then a buyout by a regional airport operator like RCA would be a possibility. The airport is profitable and with some very modest investment relative to the cost of reopening DSA, there could be an attractive airport for people in the Humberside, Lincolnshire and Doncaster area. It’s got around 2million people within a 60 minute drive, vast majority of those are actually within 45 minutes. It’s far enough away from the competition to offer a USP and it wouldn’t need millions of passengers using it just to break even.

40 minutes by train from Doncaster to Barnetby for Humberside Airport, it's not quick.

M18 and M180 is the way to go. How many from Doncaster actually use Humberside now?

 

[AlastairFraser]

@AlastairFraser

Doncaster City councillors recently voted 38-14 in favour of a motion of no confidence in the city's mayor Ros Jones over the foolish plan to try to reopen DSA. Unfortunately, the vote was purely symbolic because of the powers granted to elected mayors. I suspect that most local taxpayers don't support this boondoggle, but Ros Jones scraped back in as the city's mayor at the election a few months ago.

As you identified yourself, the vote is irrelevant. It's likely just Reform playing political games, but that's for another area of the forum to discuss in detail.

@AlastairFraser you can’t put ILS systems so close to a main railway line. Imagine the interference every time a train passes!

Fair enough, I'll defer to your experience on the matter.

Why would Humberside reject them? Because they would need to make investment into the facilities, the chances are they wanted to fly from there paying the same amount they did at DSA, plus with the risk of DSA reopening and once again stealing the business it doesn’t make much sense does it! They do still fly from Humberside and the flights are seeing high load factors (as they were when DSA was open) so the catchment area can support it. It’s just that added competition down the road is unhelpful.

But with DSA taking a while to reopen at best, you'll have many years of airlines potentially using the facilities and the upgraded facilities being available to any other interested airline too.

Interested to know why you think the Yorkshire travel patterns will change. You do realise it’s the airlines that drive this don’t you? Peel clearly stated when they closed DSA that the market had evolved in such a way that DSA wasn’t required, this is purely a factor of the airlines going where they feel they’ll fill the aircraft. Humberside exists and has facilities to handle passenger flights, it still serves as an option for people in Doncaster and the Humber region/Lincolnshire. It’s effectively serving the same catchment area that’s uncontested. You won’t surely get a load of people from Sheffield using DSA just because it’s there, they already use Manchester because of the choice on offer there, this wont change.

I know you love Humberside, but the public transport links aren't really currently strong enough to get a lot of custom from South Yorks.

Much of the funding isn't from South Yorkshire/ Doncaster taxpayers, it's from Gainshare funding, which comes from national general taxation.

National general taxation is the ultimate source of funds, yes, but this is irrelevant. The funding was granted to South Yorkshire, it is theirs to use as they wish.

Leeds East has exactly the same issues as DSA in terms of catchment, it's in the middle of nowhere with nothing at all to the east or north (other than York, from which access to LBA is easy and mostly light in terms of traffic) of it in terms of population. LBA has significant catchment populations further west, including into North Lancashire and South Cumbria as well as East Lancashire. All that would be lost and replaced by a catchment of arable fields and a few sheep and cows to the east, causing the same demand problems that DSA has always had.

The lack of population and proximity of major railways/motorways makes it much easier to expand and improve direct transport links. LBA's location sandwiched between 2 reasonably sized urban areas makes significant road improvements near impossible without a lot of compulsory purchase, and rail improvements difficult (especially with the topography of the area).

LBA also sits on one of the main arterial A road routes into Bradford, and close to one of the main arterial routes into Leeds (about 2 miles away).

Single carriageway roads of bad quality, similar to the situation at Bristol Airport (although the road situation at Bristol is easier to improve).

And we've been through this, Leeds East is nowhere near a motorway. It's at least 10 miles from the A1 in road terms without any direct road link, further from any others, down winding and rural B roads with a river crossing in an area very prone to flooding. It's nearly 5 miles from even an A road through small villages with traffic calming measures... And the railway where the station runs to the other side of the village from the airport. If you think LBA is poorly located in terms of transport links, Church Fenton is much worse.

It would be easy to build a link road from the M1/A1M merge at Hook Moor, it's nearly all open countryside between the motorway and Church Fenton. Similar with the A64.
You'd have to cut through half of the Leeds and Bradford metropolitan areas, or build a link road passing through the Harewood estate and threading though the Wetherby area to get to the A1(M) to do the same for LBA.

More so in the three years since DSA closed the first time? I'm not entirely sure that the market has changed that fundamentally in three years!

No, I was referring to the video pug1 posted!

But I can't see a world in which people from places like Kendal or Burnley would choose LBA over either Manchester or Liverpool. The roads across the Pennines aren't good at all. It's similar for people from the south-west of West Yorkshire (Huddersfield, etc). I have family in north Halifax and LBA was always annoying to get to because it involved getting across Bradford on 30mph roads. From Huddersfield, Manchester would be the obvious choice.

Exactly, it's a ballache to get to from outside West Yorkshire, while Manchester Airport (who I don't usually praise) has direct trains or coaches from a large swathe of Cumbria/Lancs (with half decent roads to access it too).

Yes but the aiming point (which is how the ILS is calibrated in line with the PAPI) is well over 1 KM away from the railway line. The suggestion appeared to be to extend the main runway at Leeds East, the ECML is already 1km away from the aiming point RWY 24 at Leeds East so any further extension could preclude the effectiveness of a full CAT3 landing system. Realistically in a world where Leeds East is used as Yorkshires primary airport (other posts have explained why it’s absolutely not a good location anyway) then the only way to extend the runway would be to extend the 24 end which would bring it within very close proximity to the ECML which I understand is a high speed part of the line.

I guess you could put the ECML in a short tunnel close to the end of the runway. it's not super close to the River Wharfe at that point.

Blackpool- gateway to the North West?

More outbound flights as others mentioned, although it was also a sizeable regional base as one of the closest airports for IoM flights to GB and a few Dublin/Belfast ops too. I think it might reopen for that sort of routes with a 50 seat turboprop given the recent new terminal planning application, but that's for another thread.

Increased line speeds on the Hope Valley were in the original plans for the recently completed work. The local geology is too unstable to do it at reasonable cost.

It's a shame because Sheffield to Manchester is a trans-Pennine link that really desperately needs improvements.

Note the way the old A6187 road under Mam Tor collapsed and the evident slippages along both the Hope and Edale valleys. It can be done, but value for money tests failed. Resignalling may be able to cut a few minutes, and maybe creating a passenger overtaking loop at Earles Sidings or adding bi-directional sections, but this is a subject for another thread.

Indeed.

Certainly post 2030 for full electrification, post 2040 in all probability. Battery electric bi-modes are more likely.

It's around Sheffield and into Manchester from Stockport that's the biggest difficulty.

Heathrow is probably the second most used airport from Sheffield - range and number of flights.

I reckon full electrification will be necessary to decarbonise some of the quarry trains, but again, a subject for another thread.
I don't expect journey times to drastically improve with electrification, because of the capacity constraints you mentioned (you'd need a Woodhead reopening or similar for that), but increased frequency and a range of direct links extending past the core Hope Valley corridor would make a difference.

Regarding "tribalism", yes, lots of people in Yorkshire don't like Leeds or Bradford but the numbers show that people are willing to put that aside to hop on a flight abroad. Doncaster does not need an airport because of so-called tribalism.

Regarding connecting South Yorkshire to Manchester, ideally you'd have a body like Transport for the North funding schemes to allow better access and have the respect Combined Authorities in the area contribute the appropriate amount for these projects. A better use case of taxpayer money for those in South Yorkshire.

For how many people in South Yorkshire is this airport their main priorities? Issues like housing, cost of living, etc, will be far more apparent for those in South Yorkshire and probably be viewed as better use cases for their taxpayer money.

LBA is constrained for expansion due to its location, but its location is well-suited to those traveling across the North to get there. The main thing LBA leaves to be desired is a suitable rail link. It acts as a suitable alternative to Manchester for short-haul leisure flights. Leeds East and DSA both have terrible locations for travel. LBA has a core market base, unlike DSA.

1.) I don't think even Transport for the North could afford a brand new rail line crossing the South Pennines, which is what you would really need to improve the line in the long term.
2.) Cost of living/housing isn't something that capital investment money can really massively help.
There's plenty of land for housing projects, the council could build and sell housing if they really wanted to, but again not a suitable use of investment money (like the Gainshare funding source being used to prop up the DSA project).
3.) LBA is not well-suited to travellers from outside WY, road links are very low quality and the topography of the area make delivering a rail link or even a parkway with tram or people mover link quite difficult.
DSA is close to a railway line with favourable topography for a station and shuttle if desired.
So is Leeds East.

LPL takes in large chunks of north Wales that MAN doesn't.

Although you have to use the toll bridge/tunnels to get there and you don't with Manchester (plus MAN has decent rail links to the North Wales coast).
As much as I love LPL, it really does need better rail links (preferably a Merseyrail loop from Hunts Cross via Speke and joining back at Liverpool South Parkway) to offset the Mersey crossings disadvantage and attract more regular passengers from Cheshire/North Wales.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Sep 2025 ==

40 minutes by train from Doncaster to Barnetby for Humberside Airport, it's not quick.

M18 and M180 is the way to go. How many from Doncaster actually use Humberside now?

Exactly, and then you have to use an infrequent bus service from the station to the actual airport or somehow find a cab.

 

[YorkRailFan]

LBA is not well-suited to travellers from outside WY, road links are very low quality and the topography of the area make delivering a rail link or even a parkway with tram or people mover link quite difficult.
DSA is close to a railway line with favourable topography for a station and shuttle if desired.
So is Leeds East.

LBA literally has a direct bus link to Harrogate and many people in York travel to LBA. Even in this thread, people have listed instances of traveling from outside WY to get to LBA. Leeds East is in the middle of nowhere, we've had this discussion before, it has no suitable catchment area and terrible transport links. DSA is best suited to housing.

Cost of living/housing isn't something that capital investment money can really massively help.
There's plenty of land for housing projects, the council could build and sell housing if they really wanted to, but again not a suitable use of investment money (like the Gainshare funding source being used to prop up the DSA project).

Building new, affordable housing is a fantastic use of investment money, including on the land that DSA occupies.

1.) I don't think even Transport for the North could afford a brand new rail line crossing the South Pennines, which is what you would really need to improve the line in the long term.

Hence why I said that each Combined Authority would chip in and of course Westminster would contribute.

Exactly, it's a ballache to get to from outside West Yorkshire, while Manchester Airport (who I don't usually praise) has direct trains or coaches from a large swathe of Cumbria/Lancs (with half decent roads to access it too).

Yes LBA is not the easiest to get to, but it does have links to outside of West Yorkshire, namely a bus to Harrogate.

It would be easy to build a link road from the M1/A1M merge at Hook Moor, it's nearly all open countryside between the motorway and Church Fenton. Similar with the A64.
You'd have to cut through half of the Leeds and Bradford metropolitan areas, or build a link road passing through the Harewood estate and threading though the Wetherby area to get to the A1(M) to do the same for LBA.

But for anyone coming by public transport, they'd have to get a train to Church Fenton and then a bus to the airport. Pretty much the same for anyone getting the train to Leeds or Bradford and then getting one of the Flyer buses to the airport.

 

[pug1]

40 minutes by train from Doncaster to Barnetby for Humberside Airport, it's not quick.

M18 and M180 is the way to go. How many from Doncaster actually use Humberside now?

Nobody uses trains to get to small regional airports, Teesside has a station and I’m sure when it was open it was one of the least used in the U.K. perhaps @AlastairFraser needs to remember this point, because it’s important to understand that despite all the bluster about DSA getting a railway station, it’s a complete non starter. You talk about how LBA is difficult to get to by road, but the airlines clearly aren’t too bothered about that because since DSA was open LBA has more than doubled its passenger throughput. Clearly then the airlines don’t see it that way.

People by far use their own car or taxi to get to an airport, and Humberside is actually well located relative to its catchment area, its minutes from the M180/A15 which makes it a viable option for people in Doncaster.

I’d have to dig through the stats but when Humberside had a lot more leisure flights (around 30 per week) there was a higher proportion of people from SY using it, it wasn’t a majority, but it was big enough (something like 20%) to suggest that people did see it as a reasonable local option. This continued whilst DSA was open until the consolidation in the market ended in Humberside losing a lot of its offering. Less than 10% of the KLM passengers have O&D in South Yorkshire.

Ultimately though to try rule out an airport based on a lack of rail links is stupid. The big problem for DSA, as I’ve said countless times, is its proximity to bigger airports. This hasn’t changed and won’t change and the airport is a proven commercial failure. Humberside makes a profit. I’m therefore offering a pragmatic solution. I’m not suggesting Humberside could be a major regional airport, of course it couldn’t and there isn’t a need for one around these parts hence the failure of DSA. I’m arguing that Humberside has a history of delivering a smaller number of higher yielding passengers who want to pay for the convenience of using their local airport and therefore without DSA or its threat of competition it can once again serve that purpose. People in Sheffield will continue using Manchester, East Midlands or Birmingham so DSA is more convenient for less people.

Also @AlastairFraser please do not use patronising language referring to ‘loving Humberside’. Some of us have been around long enough to have seen this happening a long time ago, MAG couldn’t believe people drank the Kool Aid in 2003, their predictions have held. Sadly people see a long runway and think this is a check on success. It’s not.

 

[mpthomson]

As you identified yourself, the vote is irrelevant. It's likely just Reform playing political games, but that's for another area of the forum to discuss in detail.

Fair enough, I'll defer to your experience on the matter.

But with DSA taking a while to reopen at best, you'll have many years of airlines potentially using the facilities and the upgraded facilities being available to any other interested airline too.

I know you love Humberside, but the public transport links aren't really currently strong enough to get a lot of custom from South Yorks.

National general taxation is the ultimate source of funds, yes, but this is irrelevant. The funding was granted to South Yorkshire, it is theirs to use as they wish.

The lack of population and proximity of major railways/motorways makes it much easier to expand and improve direct transport links. LBA's location sandwiched between 2 reasonably sized urban areas makes significant road improvements near impossible without a lot of compulsory purchase, and rail improvements difficult (especially with the topography of the area).

Single carriageway roads of bad quality, similar to the situation at Bristol Airport (although the road situation at Bristol is easier to improve).

It would be easy to build a link road from the M1/A1M merge at Hook Moor, it's nearly all open countryside between the motorway and Church Fenton. Similar with the A64.
You'd have to cut through half of the Leeds and Bradford metropolitan areas, or build a link road passing through the Harewood estate and threading though the Wetherby area to get to the A1(M) to do the same for LBA.


No, I was referring to the video pug1 posted!

Exactly, it's a ballache to get to from outside West Yorkshire, while Manchester Airport (who I don't usually praise) has direct trains or coaches from a large swathe of Cumbria/Lancs (with half decent roads to access it too).

I guess you could put the ECML in a short tunnel close to the end of the runway. it's not super close to the River Wharfe at that point.

More outbound flights as others mentioned, although it was also a sizeable regional base as one of the closest airports for IoM flights to GB and a few Dublin/Belfast ops too. I think it might reopen for that sort of routes with a 50 seat turboprop given the recent new terminal planning application, but that's for another thread.

It's a shame because Sheffield to Manchester is a trans-Pennine link that really desperately needs improvements.

Indeed.

I reckon full electrification will be necessary to decarbonise some of the quarry trains, but again, a subject for another thread.
I don't expect journey times to drastically improve with electrification, because of the capacity constraints you mentioned (you'd need a Woodhead reopening or similar for that), but increased frequency and a range of direct links extending past the core Hope Valley corridor would make a difference.

1.) I don't think even Transport for the North could afford a brand new rail line crossing the South Pennines, which is what you would really need to improve the line in the long term.
2.) Cost of living/housing isn't something that capital investment money can really massively help.
There's plenty of land for housing projects, the council could build and sell housing if they really wanted to, but again not a suitable use of investment money (like the Gainshare funding source being used to prop up the DSA project).
3.) LBA is not well-suited to travellers from outside WY, road links are very low quality and the topography of the area make delivering a rail link or even a parkway with tram or people mover link quite difficult.
DSA is close to a railway line with favourable topography for a station and shuttle if desired.
So is Leeds East.

Although you have to use the toll bridge/tunnels to get there and you don't with Manchester (plus MAN has decent rail links to the North Wales coast).
As much as I love LPL, it really does need better rail links (preferably a Merseyrail loop from Hunts Cross via Speke and joining back at Liverpool South Parkway) to offset the Mersey crossings disadvantage and attract more regular passengers from Cheshire/North Wales.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Sep 2025 ==


Exactly, and then you have to use an infrequent bus service from the station to the actual airport or somehow find a cab.

You're playing fantasy airport again and ignoring real world considerations. The real world as it pertains to airports and airlines wanting to use them doesn't work like this. Being in the middle of nowhere is a huge problem for Leeds East both where it sits, as it has a tiny catchment population, and the physical geography of that area (it's basically a huge flood plain, which is why road links to it are very sparse) isn't great. Nobody is going to be building A roads to Church Fenton, the costs of it would massively outweigh any possible benefit and especially not 10 mile link dual carriageways going to nowhere except the airport, there's nowhere else it would pass on the route.

Leeds East issue is that the railway line is on the opposite side of the village from where it sits. It's not a simple job to link them and nobody is going to do it to an airport that nobody would use, because it's in the wrong place and absolutely nobody is building a tunnel on the ECML.

And to repeat, yet again. LBA is on one of the main arterial routes into Bradford and 2 minutes from one of the main arterial routes into Leeds. They're not 'bad quality' roads. It's not hard to get to, except if you're in South Yorks (but it's still much simpler than getting to Church Fenton from there. I suspect none would bother, they'd just go to MAN or EMA instead).

Outside rush hours the roads leading to LBA aren't busy roads. It's easy to access from both East and North Yorkshire. I should know, I've lived in both, close to Church Fenton as well, and use the airport fairly regularly. Getting to/from York/ Harrogate is very simple and involves very little traffic.

From N Wales LPL is M56/M53 straight through the tunnel and turn right. It's significantly shorter and easier in traffic terms than getting to MAN.

Lots of people from south Cumbria and Lancs use LBA too, they don't all use Manchester. People from north and northwest Cumbria use Newcastle mostly.

Leeds East is completely non-viable as a commercial passenger airport, even if LBA had to close. And just re Humberside, it's simple to get to from south Yorks. From Doncaster it's entirely motorway apart from about 4 miles on very quiet rural A roads at the end. As easy to get to and quicker as EMA is. Not that I think Humberside wants to expand that much at the moment.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Outside rush hours the roads leading to LBA aren't busy roads. It's easy to access from both East and North Yorkshire. I should know, I've lived in both, close to Church Fenton as well, and use the airport fairly regularly. Getting to/from York/ Harrogate is very simple and involves very little traffic.

From N Wales LPL is M56/M53 straight through the tunnel and turn right. It's significantly shorter and easier in traffic terms than getting to MAN.

Lots of people from south Cumbria and Lancs use LBA too, they don't all use Manchester. People from north and northwest Cumbria use Newcastle mostly.

The roads to LBA are slow because they go through urban areas with 30mph and 40mph speed limits. From just outside Halifax, where my family live, to LBA it is all 30mph and 40mph roads. In terms of travel time, Manchester and even Liverpool are not actually that much further, so it comes down to price/convenience.

But to the north and east of LBA the roads are pretty good, which brings Teesside and southern County Durham into the catchment area. I could do Durham to LBA in 90 minutes pretty comfortably. It can take 60 at busy times to get from Durham to Newcastle Airport.

But this isn't necessarily a weakness. The fact the roads go through urban areas means that the urban areas are close to the airport. This means there's a lot of people living right next to the airport. I'd always use LBA if I lived in north Leeds or north Bradford.

I'm don't dispute your experience but I am surprised people from southern Cumbria and north Lancashire would choose to use LBA in meaningful numbers. I certainly wouldn't make that choice because the A59 and the A65 are absolutely awful roads. The north of the county would generally head for Newcastle or even Glasgow.

As for North Wales, again its much of a muchness between Liverpool and Manchester, the catchment areas do pretty much completely overlap. It'll come down to price and convenience. It's a shorter distance by road to Liverpool but the tunnels and the Runcorn bridge are tolled and that adds faff, whereas the M56 leads directly to Manchester Airport's front door. Obviously by train it's easier to get to Manchester than Liverpool, although the bus link from Liverpool South Parkway is pretty reliable.

As for Doncaster, its rural location is why it won't work. There is a lot of latent demand in South Yorkshire. But DSA is simply too far from the urban bits of South Yorkshire.

 

[AlastairFraser]

LBA literally has a direct bus link to Harrogate and many people in York travel to LBA. Even in this thread, people have listed instances of traveling from outside WY to get to LBA. Leeds East is in the middle of nowhere, we've had this discussion before, it has no suitable catchment area and terrible transport links. DSA is best suited to housing.

It has a direct bus link to the towns extremely near it, but nothing really further afield.
Leeds East has the potential for good transport links with the right level of investment - I was thinking of it as a LBA and DSA replacer, but it seems some forum members are intent on forcing people to the windswept hut near Yeadon or Ringway forever.

Building new, affordable housing is a fantastic use of investment money, including on the land that DSA occupies.

It's a job for private investment, not capital investment by a local council. Social housing estates aren't a terrible investment choice, but, again, legally this is the wrong type of funding stream - that's more of a Public Works Board loan job, not Gainshare funding.

Hence why I said that each Combined Authority would chip in and of course Westminster would contribute

It's going to be £5 billion plus, any Combined Authority contribution is going to be a drop in the water and better used locally.
If central government are prepared to bankroll it, great, but local funding won't make up anywhere near enough to even get the idea off the ground.

Yes LBA is not the easiest to get to, but it does have links to outside of West Yorkshire, namely a bus to Harrogate.

Harrogate is functionally part of the West Yorkshire conurbation for travel - it has strong rail and bus links with Leeds, and it's in the rail travelcard Zones for WYCA/Metro.

But for anyone coming by public transport, they'd have to get a train to Church Fenton and then a bus to the airport. Pretty much the same for anyone getting the train to Leeds or Bradford and then getting one of the Flyer buses to the airport.

Or a train to an airport station between Church Fenton and Ulleskelf (with a similar airport station on the ECML) and a people mover connecting both stations with the ECML. A unified Yorkshire airport would have a big catchment, so it's not a completely far flung idea.

Nobody uses trains to get to small regional airports, Teesside has a station and I’m sure when it was open it was one of the least used in the U.K. perhaps @AlastairFraser needs to remember this point, because it’s important to understand that despite all the bluster about DSA getting a railway station, it’s a complete non starter.

Prestwick, Inverness and Southampton Airports are all regional airports that have well-used stations.
I don't think that DSA would particularly need one, it had and can still obtain great bus links to a major intercity station (Doncaster), where as bus links to Humberside from any station are sporadic, to say the least.

Ultimately though to try rule out an airport based on a lack of rail links is stupid. The big problem for DSA, as I’ve said countless times, is its proximity to bigger airports. This hasn’t changed and won’t change and the airport is a proven commercial failure. Humberside makes a profit. I’m therefore offering a pragmatic solution. I’m not suggesting Humberside could be a major regional airport, of course it couldn’t and there isn’t a need for one around these parts hence the failure of DSA. I’m arguing that Humberside has a history of delivering a smaller number of higher yielding passengers who want to pay for the convenience of using their local airport and therefore without DSA or its threat of competition it can once again serve that purpose. People in Sheffield will continue using Manchester, East Midlands or Birmingham so DSA is more convenient for less people.

Humberside should be able to stand on its own without worrying about DSA, and I believe both airports can coexist peacefully (if DSA does eventually get off the ground properly).

Also @AlastairFraser please do not use patronising language referring to ‘loving Humberside’. Some of us have been around long enough to have seen this happening a long time ago, MAG couldn’t believe people drank the Kool Aid in 2003, their predictions have held. Sadly people see a long runway and think this is a check on success. It’s not.

I don't think the language I used was patronising, apologies if you felt that way. I just don't think that Humberside is the only answer to all of South Yorks' transport woes, sadly.

You're playing fantasy airport again and ignoring real world considerations. The real world as it pertains to airports and airlines wanting to use them doesn't work like this. Being in the middle of nowhere is a huge problem for Leeds East both where it sits, as it has a tiny catchment population, and the physical geography of that area (it's basically a huge flood plain, which is why road links to it are very sparse) isn't great. Nobody is going to be building A roads to Church Fenton, the costs of it would massively outweigh any possible benefit and especially not 10 mile link dual carriageways going to nowhere except the airport, there's nowhere else it would pass on the route.

Tiny catchment? By whose standards?
I don't anticipate the airport working without comprehensive transport links including new roads and stations, but it's not such an inherently bad site for a major regional airport as some forum members would have you believe. It functions perfectly well as an airfield now and it has potential for a lot more.

And to repeat, yet again. LBA is on one of the main arterial routes into Bradford and 2 minutes from one of the main arterial routes into Leeds. They're not 'bad quality' roads. It's not hard to get to, except if you're in South Yorks (but it's still much simpler than getting to Church Fenton from there. I suspect none would bother, they'd just go to MAN or EMA instead).

Outside rush hours the roads leading to LBA aren't busy roads. It's easy to access from both East and North Yorkshire. I should know, I've lived in both, close to Church Fenton as well, and use the airport fairly regularly. Getting to/from York/ Harrogate is very simple and involves very little traffic.

You can keep calling them main arterial roads, the fact is they are still **** and miles from any decent standard dual carriageway (apart from 600 metres under the runway).

From N Wales LPL is M56/M53 straight through the tunnel and turn right. It's significantly shorter and easier in traffic terms than getting to MAN.

Actually not any more, it's currently 37 mins from even Queensferry, right next to the border with the Wirral, to both Liverpool and Manchester airports by road. The bulk of the Wirral population probably just about is quicker to John Lennon airport, but not any part of North Wales, mostly because the M56 isn't so congested these days and traffic south of Liverpool city centre makes that route through either tunnel longer than the Runcorn bridges (but the increased mileage makes it roughly equivalent to the Manchester road journey).

Lots of people from south Cumbria and Lancs use LBA too, they don't all use Manchester. People from north and northwest Cumbria use Newcastle mostly.

Fair comment about Newcastle.

I don't think many people use LBA from most of Lancs, (Burnley/Pendle excluded), it's way faster to get to either Manchester or Liverpool, which typically have a much better range of departures and destinations than LBA.
Some of Westmorland may use LBA, but it's a trek from the rest of Cumbria and the population of the Westmorland part isn't very high (less than 150k). The A590 from Furness takes long enough to reach the M6 and that region's direct access to Manchester Airport by train also helps Manchester take most passengers.

nd just re Humberside, it's simple to get to from south Yorks. From Doncaster it's entirely motorway apart from about 4 miles on very quiet rural A roads at the end. As easy to get to and quicker as EMA is. Not that I think Humberside wants to expand that much at the moment.

The roads are much better quality, I'll give you that, but the public transport offer is lacking and will need to get better if they want to attract a low cost operator to open a sizeable base (even if it's just Ryanair style coach operations, purchased as a ticket add-on).

The roads to LBA are slow because they go through urban areas with 30mph and 40mph speed limits. From just outside Halifax, where my family live, to LBA it is all 30mph and 40mph roads. In terms of travel time, Manchester and even Liverpool are not actually that much further, so it comes down to price/convenience.

Precisely.

I'm don't dispute your experience but I am surprised people from southern Cumbria and north Lancashire would choose to use LBA in meaningful numbers. I certainly wouldn't make that choice because the A59 and the A65 are absolutely awful roads. The north of the county would generally head for Newcastle or even Glasgow.

Tbh I think the A59 through Lancs and past Skipton isn't too unreliable, it's getting from the A59 to LBA which gets a bit more complicated. Agreed about the A65. I've met people from Settle going to Manchester Airport for a reason, and it's mostly a smooth journey by car (M60, M66/A56, M65, A682 and then a small section of A65 to approach Settle itself).

As for North Wales, again its much of a muchness between Liverpool and Manchester, the catchment areas do pretty much completely overlap. It'll come down to price and convenience. It's a shorter distance by road to Liverpool but the tunnels and the Runcorn bridge are tolled and that adds faff, whereas the M56 leads directly to Manchester Airport's front door. Obviously by train it's easier to get to Manchester than Liverpool, although the bus link from Liverpool South Parkway is pretty reliable.

Exactly, although I do hope Liverpool's superior customer experience incentivises people from North Wales to use it.

 

[mpthomson]

The roads to LBA are slow because they go through urban areas with 30mph and 40mph speed limits. From just outside Halifax, where my family live, to LBA it is all 30mph and 40mph roads. In terms of travel time, Manchester and even Liverpool are not actually that much further, so it comes down to price/convenience.

But to the north and east of LBA the roads are pretty good, which brings Teesside and southern County Durham into the catchment area. I could do Durham to LBA in 90 minutes pretty comfortably. It can take 60 at busy times to get from Durham to Newcastle Airport.

But this isn't necessarily a weakness. The fact the roads go through urban areas means that the urban areas are close to the airport. This means there's a lot of people living right next to the airport. I'd always use LBA if I lived in north Leeds or north Bradford.

I'm don't dispute your experience but I am surprised people from southern Cumbria and north Lancashire would choose to use LBA in meaningful numbers. I certainly wouldn't make that choice because the A59 and the A65 are absolutely awful roads. The north of the county would generally head for Newcastle or even Glasgow.

As for North Wales, again its much of a muchness between Liverpool and Manchester, the catchment areas do pretty much completely overlap. It'll come down to price and convenience. It's a shorter distance by road to Liverpool but the tunnels and the Runcorn bridge are tolled and that adds faff, whereas the M56 leads directly to Manchester Airport's front door. Obviously by train it's easier to get to Manchester than Liverpool, although the bus link from Liverpool South Parkway is pretty reliable.

As for Doncaster, its rural location is why it won't work. There is a lot of latent demand in South Yorkshire. But DSA is simply too far from the urban bits of South Yorkshire.

Cumbria and Lancs both extend quite a long way eastwards, some bits of the counties are much closer to LBA in terms of distance (50 odd miles v just shy of 80) and little different in terms of time, and people just prefer the quieter roads and less chance of getting held up on M6 and M60 particularly. A65 isn't that bad in reality, I've been held up on it far less often than the M6/M60.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Sep 2025 ==

It has a direct bus link to the towns extremely near it, but nothing really further afield.
Leeds East has the potential for good transport links with the right level of investment - I was thinking of it as a LBA and DSA replacer, but it seems some forum members are intent on forcing people to the windswept hut near Yeadon or Ringway forever.

It's a job for private investment, not capital investment by a local council. Social housing estates aren't a terrible investment choice, but, again, legally this is the wrong type of funding stream - that's more of a Public Works Board loan job, not Gainshare funding.

It's going to be £5 billion plus, any Combined Authority contribution is going to be a drop in the water and better used locally.
If central government are prepared to bankroll it, great, but local funding won't make up anywhere near enough to even get the idea off the ground.

Harrogate is functionally part of the West Yorkshire conurbation for travel - it has strong rail and bus links with Leeds, and it's in the rail travelcard Zones for WYCA/Metro.

Or a train to an airport station between Church Fenton and Ulleskelf (with a similar airport station on the ECML) and a people mover connecting both stations with the ECML. A unified Yorkshire airport would have a big catchment, so it's not a completely far flung idea.

Prestwick, Inverness and Southampton Airports are all regional airports that have well-used stations.
I don't think that DSA would particularly need one, it had and can still obtain great bus links to a major intercity station (Doncaster), where as bus links to Humberside from any station are sporadic, to say the least.

Humberside should be able to stand on its own without worrying about DSA, and I believe both airports can coexist peacefully (if DSA does eventually get off the ground properly).

I don't think the language I used was patronising, apologies if you felt that way. I just don't think that Humberside is the only answer to all of South Yorks' transport woes, sadly.

Tiny catchment? By whose standards?
I don't anticipate the airport working without comprehensive transport links including new roads and stations, but it's not such an inherently bad site for a major regional airport as some forum members would have you believe. It functions perfectly well as an airfield now and it has potential for a lot more.

You can keep calling them main arterial roads, the fact is they are still **** and miles from any decent standard dual carriageway (apart from 600 metres under the runway).

Actually not any more, it's currently 37 mins from even Queensferry, right next to the border with the Wirral, to both Liverpool and Manchester airports by road. The bulk of the Wirral population probably just about is quicker to John Lennon airport, but not any part of North Wales, mostly because the M56 isn't so congested these days and traffic south of Liverpool city centre makes that route through either tunnel longer than the Runcorn bridges (but the increased mileage makes it roughly equivalent to the Manchester road journey).

Fair comment about Newcastle.

I don't think many people use LBA from most of Lancs, (Burnley/Pendle excluded), it's way faster to get to either Manchester or Liverpool, which typically have a much better range of departures and destinations than LBA.
Some of Westmorland may use LBA, but it's a trek from the rest of Cumbria and the population of the Westmorland part isn't very high (less than 150k). The A590 from Furness takes long enough to reach the M6 and that region's direct access to Manchester Airport by train also helps Manchester take most passengers.

The roads are much better quality, I'll give you that, but the public transport offer is lacking and will need to get better if they want to attract a low cost operator to open a sizeable base (even if it's just Ryanair style coach operations, purchased as a ticket add-on).

Precisely.

Tbh I think the A59 through Lancs and past Skipton isn't too unreliable, it's getting from the A59 to LBA which gets a bit more complicated. Agreed about the A65. I've met people from Settle going to Manchester Airport for a reason, and it's mostly a smooth journey by car (M60, M66/A56, M65, A682 and then a small section of A65 to approach Settle itself).

Exactly, although I do hope Liverpool's superior customer experience incentivises people from North Wales to use it.

We're not, we just understand that for all the reasons stated Leeds East is a much worse location for an airport. If you exclude East Lancs towns you're excluding a good chunk of population. Why does an airport have to have dual carriageway access? Many don't...

Catchment is tiny by any standards. There is no substantial population to the East or North except for York and Hull. It's in the middle of nowhere... It functions perfectly well for private light aircraft as owners keep them there, but there are many of these airfields in the region, it's not exactly unusual. There are no sheduled services of any description. There's zero interest in it for anything else and more and more is being turned over for industry.

 

[YorkRailFan]

It has a direct bus link to the towns extremely near it, but nothing really further afield.
Leeds East has the potential for good transport links with the right level of investment - I was thinking of it as a LBA and DSA replacer, but it seems some forum members are intent on forcing people to the windswept hut near Yeadon or Ringway forever.

A bus which connects to a train, the same way that Leeds East would operate.

It's going to be £5 billion plus, any Combined Authority contribution is going to be a drop in the water and better used locally.
If central government are prepared to bankroll it, great, but local funding won't make up anywhere near enough to even get the idea off the ground.

Money on any public transport scheme in the Pennines is money better spent than on DSA or Leeds East.

Or a train to an airport station between Church Fenton and Ulleskelf (with a similar airport station on the ECML) and a people mover connecting both stations with the ECML. A unified Yorkshire airport would have a big catchment, so it's not a completely far flung idea.

It is very much a far flung idea. Neither Ullekself or Church Fenton are suitable for large numbers of passengers, especially with lots of luggage. The ECML is rammed, there's simply no space for a stopper services to stop at a station in the middle of nowhere to serve an airport in the middle of nowhere.

Tiny catchment? By whose standards?
I don't anticipate the airport working without comprehensive transport links including new roads and stations, but it's not such an inherently bad site for a major regional airport as some forum members would have you believe. It functions perfectly well as an airfield now and it has potential for a lot more.

It's an airfield, not an international airport with jet airliners arriving with hundreds of passengers. There is no space on the ECML to have trains call at another station in the middle of nowhere and trains crossing the Pennines to get to Leeds East are completely rammed. With all the money needed to turn your idea into reality, Stockport could easily have a Metrolink service to Manchester Airport and public transport connections to LBA could be improved substantially.

 

[pug1]

@AlastairFraser your posts have become almost impossible to quote directly. I’ve already explained to you that rail/bus connections are irrelevant. Most passengers arrive by car or taxi, not least because of the times that people need to arrive at an airport to check in or arrive back to an airport are way outside of normal operating hours. It’s not feasible and so Humberside not having a regular bus service does not prevent it from having potential to serve the Humber region and the parts of South Yorkshire that don’t prefer to travel to Manchester, East Midlands or Birmingham. You’ve chosen to ignore that bit, at no point have I advocated for Humberside to serve South Yorkshire, what in actually saying is that South Yorkshire is already well served and that’s why DSA failed.

You think that both airports can coexist but seem happy to ignore the fact that when DSA opened the leisure market that was growing at Humberside basically went to DSA, but DSA could not generate further growth. The Thomson expansion at DSA would have happened at Humberside under MAG guidance, so effectively you’d have had a more sustainable operation had it been focussed on Humberside because it would still be operating now and profitable because of the ancillary business that cannot move to DSA.

Leeds East is owned by someone who has a keen interest in General Aviation. They turned a lot of the buildings into film studios and turned one runway over to storage. That is not someone intent on creating an international airport, they just want to maximise non aviation revenue to support continued aviation use on the site. They have no interest in attracting passenger flights, regardless of whether you believe it’s in a good location for such services. It’s not, but that doesn’t seem to matter to you. It’s not going to handle passenger flights.

 

[thejuggler]

I don't think there is much more to cover on this.

Many, many millions of taxes will be spent as a result of this decision.

By the time either the airport is a success, or such a failure it is sold for a new town or warehouse distribution centre those making the decision will be long gone.

 

[pug1]

I don't think there is much more to cover on this.

Many, many millions of taxes will be spent as a result of this decision.

By the time either the airport is a success, or such a failure it is sold for a new town or warehouse distribution centre those making the decision will be long gone.

Not sure on that, ten years will be within political memory as I understand Peel have agreed to forego the 2031 review but have maintained the 2036 option to break if the passenger numbers don’t reach those stipulated in the lease agreement. I understand the ones in the lease agreement exceed the peak value of DSA 1.0 by quite some margin.

 

[Bantamzen]

It has a direct bus link to the towns extremely near it, but nothing really further afield.
Leeds East has the potential for good transport links with the right level of investment - I was thinking of it as a LBA and DSA replacer, but it seems some forum members are intent on forcing people to the windswept hut near Yeadon or Ringway forever.

"The potential" needing billions, possibly tens of billions to even have a chance of becoming a replacement to LBA and if DSA ever sees commercial operations again. But who has got the money, and time to make this happen just because LBA isn't quite as convenient as some would like? There is a reason the idea never gained traction, because nobody wanted to invest in the idea. Just because a field somewhere east of Leeds has a runway and a few buildings doesn't mean it should suddenly morph into a Cinderella airport.

Filed under "never going to happen".

 

[mpthomson]

"The potential" needing billions, possibly tens of billions to even have a chance of becoming a replacement to LBA and if DSA ever sees commercial operations again. But who has got the money, and time to make this happen just because LBA isn't quite as convenient as some would like? There is a reason the idea never gained traction, because nobody wanted to invest in the idea. Just because a field somewhere east of Leeds has a runway and a few buildings doesn't mean it should suddenly morph into a Cinderella airport.

Filed under "never going to happen".

Leeds East is actually much less convenient for most of LBAs catchment population without huge scale fantasy road and rail building schemes.

 

[Killingworth]

"The potential" needing billions, possibly tens of billions to even have a chance of becoming a replacement to LBA and if DSA ever sees commercial operations again. But who has got the money, and time to make this happen just because LBA isn't quite as convenient as some would like? There is a reason the idea never gained traction, because nobody wanted to invest in the idea. Just because a field somewhere east of Leeds has a runway and a few buildings doesn't mean it should suddenly morph into a Cinderella airport.

Filed under "never going to happen".

Absolutely. Please can we drop Leeds East? DSA is the topic here without adding another even bigger basket case!

If anyone seriously wants to consider Leeds East I'd suggest they try getting there and walking round the local area. I have. They might then be better able to appreciate the mega-money pit that would be. File under "in dreams"

 

[BrianW]

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to Labour Conference, including 'promise' to support reopening of DSA ...

Why oh Why is Government stringing this along, even with 'passion' in the speech?

 

[mpthomson]

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to Labour Conference, including 'promise' to support reopening of DSA ...

The Gainshare funding (as already agreed) comes from central government from general taxation. That’s the support. There won’t be any more.

In reality these comments in a speech are pure desperation as Labour know they’re likely to lose Doncaster (and most other currently Labour constituencies in Yorkshire) to Reform in a GE.

 

[Killingworth]

The Gainshare funding (as already agreed) comes from central government from general taxation. That’s the support. There won’t be any more.

In reality these comments in a speech are pure desperation as Labour know they’re likely to lose Doncaster (and most other currently Labour constituencies in Yorkshire) to Reform in a GE.

It seems 3 Doncaater councillors elected under the Reform banner in May are now sitting as Indpendents for various reasons.

A lot can happen before a General Election but as far as DSA is concerned the official local Reform view is sceptical - preparing to profit electorally if it fails but ready to take advantage if it's a success?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

All this talk of "catchment areas" for airports rather misses the wood for the trees. For your typical family of 4 booking a couple of weeks in the Med, they'll go onto the tour operator websites and see what's available. The departure airport isn't going to be a huge consideration for many of those cases, and they'll be prepared to drive to a more distant airport for the right trip. A family from Huddersfield won't be restricting themselves to flights from LBA, in fact they'd be far more likely to fly from Manchester as it's easier to reach from their home and has a much greater choice of destinations. Equally they'll also consider flying from Liverpool or Newcastle or East Midlands if those packages suit them better.
It's no good being in the "catchment area" for an airport if the only flights from there are to places you don't want to go.

 

[BrianW]

All this talk of "catchment areas" for airports rather misses the wood for the trees. For your typical family of 4 booking a couple of weeks in the Med, they'll go onto the tour operator websites and see what's available. The departure airport isn't going to be a huge consideration for many of those cases, and they'll be prepared to drive to a more distant airport for the right trip. A family from Huddersfield won't be restricting themselves to flights from LBA, in fact they'd be far more likely to fly from Manchester as it's easier to reach from their home and has a much greater choice of destinations. Equally they'll also consider flying from Liverpool or Newcastle or East Midlands if those packages suit them better.
It's no good being in the "catchment area" for an airport if the only flights from there are to places you don't want to go.

Absolutely. Good to hear someone here with some understanding of how real folk think and act, without political or parochial 'spin'. BW

 

[Killingworth]

All this talk of "catchment areas" for airports rather misses the wood for the trees. For your typical family of 4 booking a couple of weeks in the Med, they'll go onto the tour operator websites and see what's available. The departure airport isn't going to be a huge consideration for many of those cases, and they'll be prepared to drive to a more distant airport for the right trip. A family from Huddersfield won't be restricting themselves to flights from LBA, in fact they'd be far more likely to fly from Manchester as it's easier to reach from their home and has a much greater choice of destinations. Equally they'll also consider flying from Liverpool or Newcastle or East Midlands if those packages suit them better.
It's no good being in the "catchment area" for an airport if the only flights from there are to places you don't want to go.

Nowt so queer as folk who'll ferret out best deals, catchment area or not. Like one I met parking her car at Dore & Totley station today to go direct to Liverpool to spend the night with friends. Free park and ride but would be £24 in Sheffield for 2 days. But she lived in Penistone, the opposite end of Sheffield. Would normally have gone via Huddersfield but bus replacement today so unattractive.

Despite the need to change at Piccadiily MIA with all its drawbacks would remain my preferred airport above DSA.

 

[pug1]

All this talk of "catchment areas" for airports rather misses the wood for the trees. For your typical family of 4 booking a couple of weeks in the Med, they'll go onto the tour operator websites and see what's available. The departure airport isn't going to be a huge consideration for many of those cases, and they'll be prepared to drive to a more distant airport for the right trip. A family from Huddersfield won't be restricting themselves to flights from LBA, in fact they'd be far more likely to fly from Manchester as it's easier to reach from their home and has a much greater choice of destinations. Equally they'll also consider flying from Liverpool or Newcastle or East Midlands if those packages suit them better.
It's no good being in the "catchment area" for an airport if the only flights from there are to places you don't want to go.

I’m not sure which posts you’re referring to but you may have missed the point. Passengers don’t care about catchment areas but airlines do!

Passengers will of course travel to where they get the best deal, but airlines want to put their aircraft into airports that are closest to a lot of people. Basic demand driven principles apply. The more people near an airport the more likely to fill the flights.

You are correct with your example that a family in Huddersfield are not restricted to LBA, they’ll shop around as there are probably four airports within a reasonable travel time (LBA, MAN, LBA, EMA). Because MAN has the biggest reach and therefore the largest offering, said cost conscious family are more likely to find a good deal from MAN than any of the other airports. Conversely that family might prefer the ease of using LBA, so they pay a bit more to be able to use LBA. Because there are 2.5 million people on the doorstep of LBA, the airport will have a better bargaining chip because there is likely to be more people who will pay more to use their local airport, so airlines decide to use it without impacting too much on their duplicate network from MAN. This could also apply to LPL.

In the case of DSA, which is actually quite remote and is not close to a large pool of people, the average family in Sheffield will probably still be pulled across to Manchester but there’s little incentive to duplicate routes from DSA because there isn’t the volume of potential demand close by. When you have 4 airports to choose from already, what incentive is there for an airline to go to the cost of adding a fifth departure point? All that results in is people travelling further to get their cheap flights, with not enough people in the immediate catchment area to leverage the higher fees (convenience factor) and costing more to the airline to host the flights. Don’t forget that aircraft are expensive assets and they have to be employed wisely and at high rotations to make them cost effective.

As you can imagine it wouldnt be great business sense, particularly for high cost operations with tight profit margins that are selling a highly perishable product, to put expensive aircraft, crew and other staffing infrastructure into DSA when all it will result in is the same airline competing with itself on cost. TUI did ok from DSA, but they all but abandoned HUY and LBA. Pretty much every other airline that tried to run scheduled from there found very quickly that the catchment area was saturated and low yielding, this includes the big names like easyjet and Ryanair who, if the airport really did have potential, should have had no problem making it work owing ti brand awareness and significant pull factor.

Do I believe a market could be created at DSA? Yes, but in a very limited way. Using your own argument people in South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire are not prevented from flying because they don’t have a local airport offering flights to the destinations they want to go to. They just aren’t in a large enough number to justify serving directly.

 

[mpthomson]

All this talk of "catchment areas" for airports rather misses the wood for the trees. For your typical family of 4 booking a couple of weeks in the Med, they'll go onto the tour operator websites and see what's available. The departure airport isn't going to be a huge consideration for many of those cases, and they'll be prepared to drive to a more distant airport for the right trip. A family from Huddersfield won't be restricting themselves to flights from LBA, in fact they'd be far more likely to fly from Manchester as it's easier to reach from their home and has a much greater choice of destinations. Equally they'll also consider flying from Liverpool or Newcastle or East Midlands if those packages suit them better.
It's no good being in the "catchment area" for an airport if the only flights from there are to places you don't want to go.

It misses nothing. Catchment areas and populations are how airlines decide where to fly from, not which airports punters would choose to fly from…

Confusing the two is the main issue that most supporters of DSA have.

 

[AlastairFraser]

"The potential" needing billions, possibly tens of billions to even have a chance of becoming a replacement to LBA and if DSA ever sees commercial operations again. But who has got the money, and time to make this happen just because LBA isn't quite as convenient as some would like? There is a reason the idea never gained traction, because nobody wanted to invest in the idea. Just because a field somewhere east of Leeds has a runway and a few buildings doesn't mean it should suddenly morph into a Cinderella airport.

Filed under "never going to happen".

I agree that it's unlikely to happen, however, in lieu of a sensible site for a unified Yorkshire airport, there's an incentive to have both DSA and LBA open!

 

[pug1]

I agree that it's unlikely to happen, however, in lieu of a sensible site for a unified Yorkshire airport, there's an incentive to have both DSA and LBA open!

Well clearly not which is why it failed before and has been the whole point of being against reopening it. Unless it receives significant private sector backing it’s a non-starter.

Why is it so convenient to ignore its previous 17 years of operational history with a long list of airlines that couldn’t make it work?

 

[Bantamzen]

I agree that it's unlikely to happen, however, in lieu of a sensible site for a unified Yorkshire airport, there's an incentive to have both DSA and LBA open!

Not according to the airlines though, several gave DSA a go and couldn't make it work. No profits is a major disincentive for airlines, which is why the place closed in the first place. And nothing has changed since, there just isn't going to be enough demand for DSA as an additional airport now. Within an hour and half or so drive of DSA are East Midlands (around an hour's drive away*), Leeds Bradford (1 hour 30 mins drive*) and Manchester (1 hour 40 mins* away). All of these airports carry the routes that DSA used to, and many more besides.

I know people local to Doncaster want "their" airport to save on some of this driving time, but aviation is a cut throat business, it's not like building and operating a bus station. You can't just re-open it and ask airlines to divert a few flights to it. It has to make money for both the airport operator, and more importantly make money for the airlines. And history has shown that it didn't, and likely won't again.

(*Based on Google Maps estimates at the time of posting.)

 

[mpthomson]

I agree that it's unlikely to happen, however, in lieu of a sensible site for a unified Yorkshire airport, there's an incentive to have both DSA and LBA open!

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth there’s absolutely no incentive at all for that, as previous history and the total lack of interest from airlines in a reopened DSA illustrates…

 

[BrianW]

Well clearly not which is why it failed before and has been the whole point of being against reopening it. Unless it receives significant private sector backing it’s a non-starter.

Why is it so convenient to ignore its previous 17 years of operational history with a long list of airlines that couldn’t make it work?

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth there’s absolutely no incentive at all for that, as previous history and the total lack of interest from airlines in a reopened DSA illustrates…

Not according to the airlines though, several gave DSA a go and couldn't make it work. No profits is a major disincentive for airlines, which is why the place closed in the first place. And nothing has changed since, there just isn't going to be enough demand for DSA as an additional airport now. Within an hour and half or so drive of DSA are East Midlands (around an hour's drive away*), Leeds Bradford (1 hour 30 mins drive*) and Manchester (1 hour 40 mins* away). All of these airports carry the routes that DSA used to, and many more besides.

I know people local to Doncaster want "their" airport to save on some of this driving time, but aviation is a cut throat business, it's not like building and operating a bus station. You can't just re-open it and ask airlines to divert a few flights to it. It has to make money for both the airport operator, and more importantly make money for the airlines. And history has shown that it didn't, and likely won't again.

(*Based on Google Maps estimates at the time of posting.)

SO, why does the government keep on giving verbal support to this?? It seems bizarre- an experienced old-stager like Heidi Alexander should know better. Maybe it's thought to be a vote-winner as a deportation centre?

 

[Killingworth]

SO, why does the government keep on giving verbal support to this?? It seems bizarre- an experienced old-stager like Heidi Alexander should know better. Maybe it's thought to be a vote-winner as a deportation centre?

Because they think it will be popular for the masses and their expected cheap holidays. Only once it's open they'll find very few flights at low enough prices to tempt them away from MAN, LBA etc.so it will have to close again.

On this matter I'm with the Reform cynical view, waiting on the sidelines to say 'I told you so.' But they can't say that just yet, maybe never because if they do they'll be damned for killing it!

Labour in Doncaster aim to come out winning by saying they gave it their best shot but were defeated by luke warm support from other local bodies, SYMCA and anyone they can find to pin blame.

 

[Bantamzen]

SO, why does the government keep on giving verbal support to this?? It seems bizarre- an experienced old-stager like Heidi Alexander should know better. Maybe it's thought to be a vote-winner as a deportation centre?

Exactly that last statement, votes. Labour are offering vocal (but not financial) support to it because they know Reform are closing in on them, especially in places like Doncaster. So it would be terrible optics for them to suddenly turn around and say perhaps it's not such a good use of Doncaster's share of the Gainshare funds granted to them. And Doncaster Council has convinced themselves that opening DSA will suddenly see a flood of overseas investment as rich businessmen & businesswomen fly into to Doncaster on wide bodied flights from around the globe carrying big bags of money to spend in Donny....

Meanwhile, in the real world there is very little interest from even budget & holiday carriers, let alone legacy and long haul carriers, so I'm not so sure that there will be a flood of money coming in from the Costa del la Sol or Greek Islands. That assumes of course that even those flights will happen, it's far from certain that DSA will even get back the airspace that it lost any time soon let alone attract any commercial carriers to restart holiday flights. It's an utter folly, that has very little chance of success. Even Doncaster Council have adjusted their profit forecasts from 5-10 years to some time after 2050! That really tells you all you need to know. If it does open, Doncaster Council Tax payers are going to be subsidising it for a very long time.