One of the North’s biggest recent economic losses is being reversed. The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and the City of Doncaster Council have approved a funding package of almost £160m to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which closed in 2022. As the South Yorkshire authority has set out, the plan targets a return of freight operations in 2027 and passenger flights in 2028.
The scale of what is at stake
The numbers explain why South Yorkshire fought so hard to get the airport back. When fully operational, the reopening could support more than 5,000 direct jobs and around 6,500 indirect ones, and add an estimated £5.6bn to the economy. As Insider Media reported, the airport is already recruiting, aiming for a team of around 200 by the end of this year as preparations gather pace.
The airport is only half the plan
The runway is the anchor for something larger. The surrounding Gateway East site covers 1,700 acres and is planned to include around 1,400 homes, a Central Plaza town centre of offices, shops and restaurants, and an Innovation Quarter aimed at advanced manufacturing and sustainable aviation, alongside space for logistics and aerospace firms. The airport gives that development a reason to exist, and a global connection most sites can only dream of.
Why this one matters
The closure of Doncaster Sheffield in 2022 was a genuine blow, a rare example of major infrastructure being lost rather than built. Getting it back is a serious statement of intent from a mayoral authority willing to put real money behind a strategic asset the market had walked away from. There is a hard road ahead, reopening an airport is expensive and competitive, and the passenger numbers will have to be rebuilt from scratch. But an airport with 1,700 acres of development land around it is exactly the kind of long-term economic engine the North should be prepared to fight for. South Yorkshire has decided it is worth it.
The North is FU7URE’s daily briefing on the people, capital and infrastructure reshaping the North of England. Subscribe to the free newsletter to get it in your inbox each morning.
Leave a Reply