Doncaster Sheffield Airport

[Axe]

49 minutes ago, geared said:

It failed for a bunch of reasons, I don't think a council lead attempt to buy it out is wise or a good use of public money.

 

 

It never recovered after the lockdowns. 

 

There are allegations the owners want to building housing on the site because that is more profitable than running an airport.  We do not really know if the airport on the site is viable.  I think the council is correct in trying to rescue the airport.

[Chekhov]

23 hours ago, Jack Grey said:

The fact that you couldnt get a train there was another issue

The biggest issue by far was how few flights there were from it. Ideally we'd rather have flown from Doncaster than from MAN or EM and certainly than LB (which is a pig to get to). But where ever we wanted to go (usually with Jet2) there was no option to use Donc.

I would bet good money that if Jet2 had started using Doncaster they'd have got way more passengers using it.

[Annie Bynnol]

12 minutes ago, Jack Grey said:

Well if you're using public transport from Sheffield you can get to Manchester airport in the same time it would take you to get to Doncaster airport

 

So which one did they choose? 

   DSA was not in competition with Manchester. 

   It was quicker to get from Sheffield to DSA check in after the end of direct services to Manchester Airport. It is quicker to get to East Midlands Airport by train/bus via Derby( 60 min 24hrs) or Long Eaton (55min 24hrs), than to a Manchester terminal(90). There was a direct bus service(X6) to DSA from Pond Street for a time(60min).

   The lack of a train station at DSA was not a factor in its demise.

[Jack Grey]

33 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

   DSA was not in competition with Manchester. 

   It was quicker to get from Sheffield to DSA check in after the end of direct services to Manchester Airport. It is quicker to get to East Midlands Airport by train/bus via Derby( 60 min 24hrs) or Long Eaton (55min 24hrs), than to a Manchester terminal(90). There was a direct bus service(X6) to DSA from Pond Street for a time(60min).

   The lack of a train station at DSA was not a factor in its demise.

It's not just about flights but facilities

 

It's nice to have a few drinks and something to eat before a long flight. 

 

Manchester has lots of options and some great luxury lounges 

 

You used to be able to get train direct from Sheffield to Manchester airport

 

But they stopped it during COVID and never brought it back

 

Now you have to change at Manchester Piccadilly

 

Sometimes I get the train if my flight is in the afternoon or ill get a taxi (£90) if I land early in the morning. 

 

I prefer not to drive and leave my car in the carpark 

 

Too many bad experiences 

Edited June 6, 2023 by Jack Grey

[Annie Bynnol]

2 hours ago, Jack Grey said:

It's not just about flights but facilities

It's nice to have a few drinks and something to eat before a long flight. 

Manchester has lots of options and some great luxury lounges 

You used to be able to get train direct from Sheffield to Manchester airport

But they stoppe d it during COVID and never brought it back

Now you have to change at Manchester Piccadilly

Sometimes I get the train if my flight is in the afternoon or ill get a taxi (£90) if I land early in the morning. 

I prefer not to drive and leave my car in the carpark 

Too many bad experiences 

    But Doncaster was not competing with Manchester. Its natural competitors were EMA, LBA, Humberside which like Doncaster focused on cheap travel. They tried to attractthe one of the budget airlines to use it as a base, they tried for 24hr freight operating permissions(like EMA) but failed, the loss of eastern European traffic due to brexit turned breaking even into losses and attempts to get financial support from public sources were rejected.

    Withdrawal of the direct service to Manchester Airport had absolutely nothing to do with Covid. It was the failure of the Government to complete the  Castlefield Corridor project which would have provided the capacity needed for the re-casting of the whole timetable in the North West and across the Pennines to Sheffield and Leeds in 2018 leading to years of delays and cancellation. The plan to mitigate the problem involved removing traffic that crosses the 'throat' of Piccadilly station- the Sheffield-Airport trains being a major contributor and an easy 'fix'.

[crookesey]

14 hours ago, Annie Bynnol said:

    But Doncaster was not competing with Manchester. Its natural competitors were EMA, LBA, Humberside which like Doncaster focused on cheap travel. They tried to attractthe one of the budget airlines to use it as a base, they tried for 24hr freight operating permissions(like EMA) but failed, the loss of eastern European traffic due to brexit turned breaking even into losses and attempts to get financial support from public sources were rejected.

    Withdrawal of the direct service to Manchester Airport had absolutely nothing to do with Covid. It was the failure of the Government to complete the  Castlefield Corridor project which would have provided the capacity needed for the re-casting of the whole timetable in the North West and across the Pennines to Sheffield and Leeds in 2018 leading to years of delays and cancellation. The plan to mitigate the problem involved removing traffic that crosses the 'throat' of Piccadilly station- the Sheffield-Airport trains being a major contributor and an easy 'fix'.

We were quite simply too little too late, we’ve not been taken seriously for many a year, irrespective of political mud slinging.