Doncaster Sheffield Airport Could Permanently Close

[Guest busdriver1]

6 hours ago, Anna B said:

'Build it and they will come.'

 

It has been built and In their droves they have NOT come. Otherwise we would not be even thinking about shutting this unnecessary capacity. 

[Man in Crete]

Ok so economics play apart same as they do with public transport…..and yet some of those who argue for the closure of their so called white elephant are missing a huge point

manchester airport has a max number of flights in/ out of 61/ hour. There is no chance of adding a third runway or giving way to night flights

hence with the propensity of people wishing to fly increasing despite the eco Marxists saying we should cycle everywhere, Manchester is almost at over capacity .
 regardless current staffing problems it was already a s*** hole in my view . Customers are treat like cattle proverbially speaking and unless you have the joy of using Emirates first class etc I doubt any discerning passenger will say “wow that was good”

I seem to think TPE have withdrawn direct rail services and you now have to drag cases and kids across Piccadilly that’s if the trains are running. Hs2 also won’t help the majority of current flyers in the north

Soooo in my ideal futuristic world DSA would be better marketed ,would speculate to accumulate, would rid itself of Peel Holdings and become more competitive on landing fees etc and if the flights were there then yes the people will come in numbers in excess of the 1.5m already using. 

 

 

[HeHasRisen]

Its a cross platform transfer at Piccadilly if you go on the Liverpool train from Sheffield tbh, so thats half the fast trains.

 

If airlines were desperate to go and use DSA they would already be using it.

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, Man in Crete said:

 

Soooo in my ideal futuristic world DSA would be better marketed ,would speculate to accumulate, would rid itself of Peel Holdings and become more competitive on landing fees etc and if the flights were there then yes the people will come in numbers in excess of the 1.5m already using. 

 

 

Economics does not just play a part, it is the primary factor.  The future you are suggesting could take decades and will only work on the  scenario that passenger numbers will continue to escalate the way they are. Given the shift towards alternative methods of transport, high speed rail, more social consciousness regards sustainability, the dramatic increases in home based working and reductions in business travel etc..  it is not beyond the realms of possibility that short haul flights particularly may start to decline.

 

Those who have any sort of green agenda may well concede that transatlantic or Asia travel has no options but to fly- but they would be more than willing to take greener surface transportation for places say in Europe. Even more so if opportunities to do so increase over time and if it can ultimately be deemed easier and on par time wise compared to travelling to and going through all the the prolonged and challenging airport protocols pre and post departure.

 

Also I think there needs to be some real context  as to these passenger numbers. Yes DSA has a passenger flow (pre-covid) of around 1.5 million but that is nothing if you look at the bigger picture. I don't think people realise just how far behind that is compared to it's main rivals. For example, Leeds Bradford Airport which I'm sure many would consider is still a 'tinpot' operation handled approaching fouŕ million passengers in 2019. Liverpool Airport (despite being in the catchment of Manchester) still handled over 5 million passengers, as did East Midlands Airport.  Birmingham airport is over 12 million. Then of course we have Manchester itself which is over 28 million.

 

After 17 + years in operation, DSA is still pulling in less than half of even Leeds-Bradford, it's lost one of its main route operators and the only remaining one with any substance is a seasonal charter holiday airline whose own passenger numbers, even before Covid, were mostly year-on-year declining.   The figures for Doncaster have not been consistent as even back in 2007 it

had a peak of over a million passengers but just four years later was down to around 600,000. It took them three solid years to get their passenger numbers back up to over a million and even then we're still showing less than 1/3 third compared to some of the nearest rivals.

 

Another big factor was that DSA repeatedly missed out breaking the market in the obviously popular  budget carriers like Ryanair, EasyJet and Jet2 who chose to establish their operations at other airports in the region and are very unlikely to shift unless less DSA whores itself out (which of course it can't afford to do as it is already making massive losses)

 

The fact is we have to many airports already. If one is far busier than others, then yes, the work needs to be spread around. But I simply do not accept that they will all have a sustainable future and it is very clear where the weak links are.  

[Anna B]

11 hours ago, busdriver1 said:

It has been built and In their droves they have NOT come. Otherwise we would not be even thinking about shutting this unnecessary capacity. 

D /S is a small local airport that mostly does local and short haul flights to European destinations etc as far as I'm aware, but people now want to fly further afield - America, South America.  Bali, China, Australia to name just a few, but that requires longer runways that only D/S can supply and has the space to develop into a major international airport which can service the whole of the North of England and much of the Midlands. 

 

The only alternative at present is Manchester, on the other side of the Pennines (and unreachable when the winter weather closees in) and frankly is well past its sell by date, and an absolute dump that shames us compared to other International airports in the world. It hardly creates a good impression, with it's 'no spitting' and 'do not attack the staff' notices.

 

Heathrow London is at full capacity and several airlines are looking for new bases further afield.

A redeveloped D/S would be ideal.

It's about time the government came good with its 'levelling up' promises and started to put some proper investment into the North.

We're fed up with everything being about the crowded, congested south east which gets far more than its fair share at the expense of everyone else and where no one can even afford to live anymore. We've been waiting for cross rail for years, and now won't even get the Northern bit of HS2 which surprise surprise is going to Petre out at Birmingham.  

Edited July 24, 2022 by Anna B

[HeHasRisen]

19 minutes ago, Anna B said:

D /S is a small local airport that mostly does local and short haul flights to European destinations etc as far as I'm aware, but people now want to fly further afield - America, South America.  Bali, China, Australia to name just a few, but that requires longer runways that only D/S can supply and has the space to develop into a major international airport which can service the whole of the North of England and much of the Midlands. 

The airport has been open over 15 years, yes? This runway has existed for the same period.

 

Yet the airport offers no long haul flights as far as I know.

 

It had already been "built", and they have not "come".

[ECCOnoob]

56 minutes ago, Anna B said:

 

 

The only alternative at present is Manchester, on the other side of the Pennines (and unreachable when the winter weather closees in) and frankly is well past its sell by date, and an absolute dump that shames us compared to other International airports in the world. It hardly creates a good impression, with it's 'no spitting' and 'do not attack the staff' notices.

 

 

Have you never heard of places like Gatwick or Birmingham or Cardiff or Newcastle which already have established long haul routes and existing suitable runways to increase their flights elsewhere.

 

Incidentally, Manchester might be labelled bogeyman number one in the papers right now but it's certainly not well past its sell-by date. In fact it's gone through a multi-million pound renovation and extension of its main terminal

 

When there is snow on The Snake Pass there are alternative routes to Manchester including the M62.  Life doesn't shut down just because there is snow on one main road. Let alone the train connections which I've discussed several times earlier. So let's stop with the dramatic like "it's unreachable".

 

It is far from being "the only solution". In fact given DSA struggled to attract the big budget Airlines flying frequently to Europe what serious hope do you think they're going to have of suddenly getting commitments from airlines like Emirates, Etihad, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic or Qantas.

 

Its pipe dream stuff which is not what we should be peeing away any sort of levelling up investment on.  Goodness sake, if we are going to do something it needs to be a project which is actually required, viable and which people will use.  Not some desperate vanity project trying to keep up with the neighbours by providing something which is already well and better catered nearby.

[Anna B]

2 hours ago, ECCOnoob said:

Incidentally, Manchester might be labelled bogeyman number one in the papers right now but it's certainly not well p sake, if we are going to do something it needs to be a project which is actually required, viable and which people will use.  Not some desperate vanity project trying to keep up with the neighbours by providing something which is already well and better catered nearby.

So, what do you suggest?

Edited July 24, 2022 by Anna B

[HeHasRisen]

9 hours ago, Anna B said:

So, what do you suggest?

The closure of the airport.

 

If it was the exact same airport but in somewhere like Dundee, or Wrexham, or Bath, not a single person on here would be advocating keeping it open.  The only reason they are is "eeeee, local Yorkshire pride". 

Edited July 25, 2022 by HeHasRisen
Typo

[Anna B]

4 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

The closure of the airport.

 

If it was the exact same airport but in somewhere like Dundee, or Wrexham, or Bath, not a single person on here would be advocating keeping it open.  The only reason they are is "eeeee, local Yorkshire pride". 

I was referring to Ecconoob's post saying 'we need a project which is actually required, viable, and which people will use.'

That's the million dollar question.

Can anybody suggest anything? Our councils seem to be out of ideas...

 

My argument is London Heathrow is over capacity and looking to expand.

I see no reason why it shouldn't be expanded in the centre of England serving more people, rather than back in the overcrowded south east yet again.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Anna B