Reopened Doncaster Sheffield Airport 'will need more public cash after £90m grant', Government warned
Doncaster Sheffield Airport will run at a loss “for the foreseeable future” if it reopens, the Government has been warned.
The site is likely to need more than the proposed £105m subsidy to keep it operating all the way to 2050, a report by consultants York Aviation on behalf of Leeds Bradford Airport, states.
This week Chancellor Rachel Reeves threw her support behind a plan to relaunch the airport at Finningley backed by City of Doncaster Council and South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard.
But Companies House figures show it never made a profit in the years it was run by Peel Group from 2005 to 2022.
The York Aviation report states: “On any reasonable projection of the future operation, DSA would be expected to remain loss making for the foreseeable future.
"On the face of it, it is difficult to see how the proposed subsidy of £105.2 million could secure a future operation over the period to 2050 nor is it clear how there would be sufficient revenue generated to pay down the loans over time to achieve a net subsidy equivalent to £89.7m.
"DSA is unlikely to attain a position where its operation could be sustained without further subsidy from the public sector.”
Doncaster Council intends to use its share of devolution funding to provide £105m in loans to a council-owned company to help reopen the airport in 2026.
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has pledged to give the airport an annual £5.3 million subsidy for the next 26 years, some £138m in total.
Local politicians hope it will be the springboard for wider regeneration around the site, involving new homes and employment land which, it has been argued, could create 5,000 jobs and be worth £9 to Doncaster for every £1 spent.
The full business case reopening has yet to be published but a recent report to mayor Oliver Coppard discussing it said it “has been prepared on a broader basis than solely the return of aviation activity” and will be a catalyst for wider economic growth.
Doncaster Sheffield Airport has four other airports within a 70 mile radius: Manchester, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Humberside.
Leeds Bradford Airport chief executive, Vincent Hodder, told the BBC he thought it would fail.
He said: “I can't foresee a scenario where DSA is able to generate sufficient passenger numbers to enable it to actually be self-sustaining."
He claimed "a lot of airlines were paid to operate out of [DSA]" under the previous ownership, adding: "Their losses were underwritten, so the taxpayer ends up funding both the cost of the operation as well as the losses incurred by the airline."