Council boss notified just 24 hours before Doncaster Sheffield Airport closure threat went public

Doncaster’s deputy mayor said the council’s top boss was first made aware of the decision to potentially close the city’s airport just 24 hours before it went public.
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Councillor Glyn Jones, who was stepping in for Mayor Ros at a meeting of the full council on Thursday (July 14), said a widespread effort was now underway in order to save it.

In the meeting, he addressed fellow councillors and said that Doncaster Sheffield Airport was ‘the best airport in Yorkshire’ and it has the best road connections as well as one of the longest runways in the country.

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He added that the airport is a ‘major asset’ to Doncaster and the wider region and urged ‘all avenues to make it commercially viable are fully investigated’.

Airport bosses said despite growth in passenger numbers, DSA has ‘never achieved the critical mass required to become profitable’.

They added the fundamental issue of a shortfall in passenger numbers was ‘exacerbated by the announcement of the unilateral withdrawal of the Wizz Air based aircraft’, leaving the airport with only one base carrier, namely TUI.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Coun Jones said: “Where we go from now is getting together with Peel to have an in depth discussion with our three Doncaster MPs, Oliver Coppard as the South Yorkshire mayor, Ros and myself with relevant officers.

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“We need to get to the bottom of this, we need to find out how we can resolve this situation.

Deputy mayor Glyn Jones speaking to reporter George Torr on the potential closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.Deputy mayor Glyn Jones speaking to reporter George Torr on the potential closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
Deputy mayor Glyn Jones speaking to reporter George Torr on the potential closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

“There was a conversation between one of the directors of the airport who is on the Peel board and Damian (Allen, DMBC chief executive) which took place at about 10:10am on Tuesday (the day before the official announcement).

“We were made aware of it then and took various different actions with different people being it the MPs, the South Yorkshire mayor and to seek opinions from various people to see exactly where we are with this situation.

“If this goes, it will be absolutely devastating if this is closed for Doncaster and the surrounding region. This is a regional airport, we need this airport for all of South Yorkshire and also for the wider region.

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“You look out across the M18 corridor and it’s a place that people want to come to and want to fly from – the investment at the airport is immense today and we don’t want to lose that at all.

“We want to ensure that people are flying out, get freight in and out and also passengers for not just holidays but businesses as well.”