‘Controversial’ UK airport to reopen after 5 years with a £160,000,000 cash boost

One major regional airport is headed towards a revival (Picture: Getty Images)

A regional UK airport is finally confirmed to be reopening — with flights setting off from winter 2027. 

Yorkshire’s Doncaster Sheffield Airport previously serviced thousands of passengers every year, but has been closed since November 2022. At the time, its owners, Peel Group, claimed it was no longer financially viable to keep it open.

But now, a whopping £160,000,000 in funding has been confirmed, in what Chancellor Rachel Reeves called a ‘huge milestone’.

Just last month, the airport’s future looked in doubt when South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, warned that the ‘cost-benefit ratio of reopening… may be lower than we initially understood.’ He added that he ‘can’t say when it will reopen.’

Flights could be booked from as early as next year (Picture: Getty Images)

But the outlook is looking altogether more positive, after the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) met this week to reach a final decision on the proposed funding.

The £160 million package to re-open the runways was approved, with Oliver announcing: ‘We are ready for take off.’

But don’t go thinking you can book flights for your next summer holidays. Doncaster Mayor, Ros Jones, said: ‘We want to see bookings being taken before the end of 2026, with holidays available for the winter 2027/28 season. Freight flights will resume sooner simply because of the logistics.’

Ros has been spearheading the campaign to reopen the airport. She added: ‘This is an important day in our airport’s story. Today we have taken a huge step forward.’

First flights

Progress towards re-opening the airport is underway (Picture: Getty Images)

Despite the airport being closed for three years, a flight did take off last year.

Aviation company 2Excel, which has maintained a hangar on the airport site for over a decade, received permission from the City of Doncaster Council to bring one of its aircraft back as part of a winter maintenance programme.

The aircraft touched down at DSA in December, watched by Mayor Ros Jones and local MPs, in a controlled, unlicensed flight.

Mayor Jones said: ‘We know how important the airport is to local people and businesses so it is great to see an already established aviation business in our city being able to use the site again.

‘I have made reopening our beloved airport my number one priority.’

In a statement in November 2024, Mayor Jones said: ‘Our proposition is not just an airport but will be a hub for sustainable aviation-related industry. South Yorkshire Airport City – the programme to reopen the airport – has incredible potential, to bring jobs and prosperity to Doncaster and the wider South Yorkshire region.’

The South Yorkshire Airport City project could bring 5,000 new jobs and £6.6billion to the area, Doncaster Council said.

It was previously known as the Robin Hood Airport, but this name was considered controversial (Picture: Mike Ford/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)

A controversial name

Doncaster Sheffield Airport was first opened as Finningley Airfield in 1915 and was a base for the Royal Flying Corps to intercept industrial cities of Northern England. 

The airfield was later used for training purposes in World War II and for nuclear-armed Vulcan bombers during the Cold War, before being decommissioned in 1995. 

Twenty years later, it reopened as a commercial airport under the name Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport, much to the confusion of the people 41 miles away in Nottingham. 

The city famously claims the legendary English figure, yet the inclusion of the name was reportedly due to the original legends being set in Barnsdale Forest, an area of South Yorkshire that surrounded Doncaster and Pontefract. 

So controversial was the name, however, that a petition started to oppose it and was signed by over 10,000 people. In 2016, the airport rebranded to Doncaster Sheffield Airport. 

The last inbound flight to the airport was on November 4, 2022, at 9:15pm, from Egypt and the final commercial flight to leave the airport was November 5 at 12:15am, headed for Manchester.

The airport flew to as many as 50 destinations in Europe, with its main operators being TUI and Wizz Air. It isn’t clear whether Wizz Air will be returning upon its reopening. 

Currently, Jet2 is seeking flight options out of Doncaster airport when it reopens, the Doncaster Free Press reports.

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