‘No guarantees either way’ on reopening of DSA, says Mayor

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard pointed to a lack of investment from the private sector and the need for ‘proper due diligence’ in the spending of £150m of public money on a revised approach to the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which was due to be back up and running next year.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Coppard said that – if it reopens at all – it won’t be as a purely commercial flight hub and that flights themselves won’t be achievable until 2028.

The wider Gateway East scheme, on land owned by Peel, will be crucial to the success of the airport itself, helping SYMCA balance the books and make the entire project viable.

Speaking about the delay to the original timeframe and addressing criticism of the slow speed of progress, he said: “I have made, and will make, no apology for doing the proper due diligence when being asked to potentially spend in excess of £150 million of public money, to make real a project that has the potential to be either a huge economic driver, or a significant drain on public funds.

“Whatever work we do now, there can of course be no guarantees either way.”

Coppard underlined how initial private sector interest in the reopening of DSA and the wider South Yorkshire Airport City project had not led to a deal good enough for the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority to sign.

SYMCA and City of Doncaster Council, with backing from central government, vowed to take on the project of reopening the airport themselves, and created FlyDoncaster to operate the airport, bringing in Munich Airport International to manage the scheme.

It is the first time the Mayor has publicly admitted that viability might affect the success of the project, stressing the work done behind the scenes to create a business case for reopening the airport.

He said: “Of course the public and private sector have different measures of success, but in this case I think it is right to say we are doing a level of analysis that every business in this room would expect when approaching a deal of this scale, if not more…

“The work we are doing will give us an unprecedented understanding of what it will take to reopen DSA and create a world leading sustainable aviation hub and advanced manufacturing hub at Gateway East, as well as the risks and opportunities inherent in that project.”

Coppard went on to highlight the need for long-term investment in the surrounding Gateway East site, using funding created by the business hub to off-set and make viable the airport.

He said: “While opening an airport is not a binary process, we’re now unlikely to be at full operational capacity until 2028.

“As a result we would be unlikely to see commercial passenger flights into or out of DSA before 2028. Albeit, we will of course aim for that to happen sooner…

“But we also know now that the wider South Yorkshire Airport City project will not, cannot, solely be focused on providing low-cost holiday flights…

“We now know that if we are able to realise our ambitions of a world leading sustainable aviation hub at Gateway East, the funds from business rate retention would offset a huge proportion of the costs of reopening DSA.

“We now know that the cost benefit ratio of reopening DSA may be lower than we initially understood, but with the right conditions the project could still provide a strong economic and social benefit to South Yorkshire, and a decent return to taxpayers over the long-term.

“And we now know that all of that work, and the insights it has provided, has materially impacted the ongoing conversations about the lease…

“At this point I still cannot say we will be reopening DSA and creating that world leading sustainable aviation hub at Gateway East. There are still challenges to overcome.

“There have been and always will be decent people arguing in good faith that we should not reopen DSA. While I disagree, I have never been immune to those arguments.

“So, I cannot prejudge the decision we will be taking as an MCA Board. Not least as that work is still going on. The money we have to spend on this project is not – indeed never has been – unlimited.

“But I can say that if we are not able to take a positive decision to fund the reopening of our airport, it will not be for a lack of work, a lack of political will or a lack of analysis and insight.”