Doncaster/Sheffield Airport will begin winding down operations on October 31, 2022, after its owners were unable to make the aerodrome financially viable and could not foresee a scenario where this would change. The announcement follows a strategic review in July where owners, the Peel Group, entered into ultimately fruitless talks with airport users and stakeholders.
"The high fixed costs associated with running a safe, regulated airport, together with recent events materially reducing prospective future aviation income streams, mean that a break-even business plan cannot be identified for the foreseeable future," reads a statement from the Peel Group. "Regretfully, no tangible proposals have been received regarding the ownership of the airport or which address the fundamental lack of financial viability. As a result, Doncaster Airport will begin winding down the provision of aviation services during the week commencing Monday, 31 October 2022."
According to the ch-aviation PRO airports module, three airlines fly into Doncaster - TUI Airways, Wizz Air, and cargo carrier Astral Aviation. In June, Wizz Air canceled a large number of flights to Doncaster and closed its crew base there after failing to reach new commercial terms with the airport's operator. The wind-down of Wizz Air's base operations reportedly hit hard.
The ch-aviation capacities module reveals in the seven days from September 26, 13,721 seats are on offer from Doncaster on 69 flights. TUI Airways is offering the bulk of those seats - 8,862 or 64.6% of the total while Wizz Air mops up the remainder. The top route from Doncaster in both frequency and capacity is to and from Bucharest Henri Coanda, with Palma de Mallorca in second place.
The Peel Group says it received a letter from the Mayor of South Yorkshire and Mayor of Doncaster citing their own study of the airport's financial viability. While recognising the importance of the airport to the region, the mayors failed to come up with a solution to the airport's financial challenges. The mayors also said they'd been approached by a group interested in purchasing or operating the airport but despite requests from Peel, failed to disclose the identity of that group.
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Doncaster Council also offered to cover the airport's financial losses with public money through to October 31, 2023. But Peel’s board concluded that it could not responsibly accept public money to postpone the inevitable closure for an unviable, loss-making operating business.
"The intractable problem remains the fundamental and insufficient lack of current or prospective revenue streams, together with the airport’s high operating costs," said Robert Hough, Chairman of Peel Airports Group.
