South Yorkshire leaders have formally approved a 160 million GBP funding package to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA), which closed in November 2022.
The decision was made on Tuesday 9 September at a meeting of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Board, held at the airport. All five voting members backed the proposal, which sets out a long-term plan for the return of aviation operations.
The funding is in addition to 16 million GBP already committed by SYMCA.
The closure of DSA left South Yorkshire without a commercial airport, making it one of the largest city regions in the UK without international air links. Since then, local leaders, MPs and government representatives have explored options for restoring aviation services on the site.
Mayor Oliver Coppard said:We’re reopening DSA. Today, we’ve made a historic decision; to invest in the plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport, and to create a sustainable aviation and advanced manufacturing hub at Gateway East.
I’ve always said I wanted to reopen DSA, but we needed to know exactly what the plan looked like. That’s why we’ve taken the time and done the work. No plan of this size or scale is ever easy, or without risks, but today we’ve taken a bold step forward, backed by data, expertise, and a shared vision for the type of South Yorkshire we want to build, because DSA is a unique opportunity.
The plan we have backed today is about more than holiday flights or passenger numbers, it’s a long-term commitment to drive jobs, growth and opportunities in sustainable aviation, advanced manufacturing, freight, and even the defence sector, here in South Yorkshire.
Although funding has now been secured, the reopening will not be immediate. Significant passenger services are not expected to resume until summer 2028, although limited cargo and passenger activity could begin in winter 2027.
Mayor of City of Doncaster Council Ros Jones, said:This is an important day in our airport’s story. Today we have taken a huge step forward towards fully reopening our airport. Over the last three years this airport has been the number one question on the doorstep, in the pub and across our communities.
This project is not simply to reopen our airport for passenger flights, it’s about the wider economic impacts, creating a hub for aviation related industry, delivering jobs and opportunities for our residents and putting Doncaster back on the map.
