Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) closed to passengers on 4 November 2022 and was formally wound down by owner Peel Group on 30 November 2022. As of June 2026, the airport remains closed to commercial flights. Doncaster Council has signed a 125-year lease on the site and set up a wholly owned company called FlyDoncaster to oversee the reopening process. However, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard confirmed in August 2025 that commercial passenger flights are unlikely to resume until at least 2028.

The closure was a significant blow to South Yorkshire — the airport served over 1.4 million passengers in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic devastated its finances, and it provided a vital direct route for holidaymakers and business travellers across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The fight to reopen it has involved millions of pounds of public funding, years of complex negotiations, and the involvement of central government.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport – Key Facts

History of the Airport

The site at Finningley has a long aviation history, having served as an RAF base from the Second World War through to 1996. Commercial operations began in 2005 when the airport reopened as Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield — a name chosen to capitalise on the region’s connection to the legendary outlaw, with the airport sitting on the edge of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

For much of its short commercial life, DSA performed reasonably well. Budget airlines including Ryanair and Wizz Air used it as a base, and the airport consistently punched above its weight for a regional facility outside the major metropolitan hubs. In 2019 — its last full pre-pandemic year — it handled 1,407,862 passengers, a 15.2 percent increase on the year before. Aircraft movements reached 23,043.

Covid-19 gutted those numbers entirely. When passenger volumes failed to recover sufficiently, Peel Group — the Manchester-based property and infrastructure firm that owned the airport — began signalling concerns about its viability in July 2022. By November, they had confirmed closure.

Why It Closed

Peel Group’s case for closure was financial. The combination of pandemic losses, high operating costs, and what they described as insufficient government and public sector support made continued operation unviable. The decision was made without public consultation and came as a shock to regional politicians and communities who had viewed DSA as an important piece of South Yorkshire’s infrastructure.

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard opposed the closure and was explicit that he lacked the legal power to prevent it: ‘We did not have the ability to stop it from happening.’ A legal challenge — an application for judicial review into Peel’s decision — was refused by a court in December 2022. The closure stood.

Coppard subsequently announced an independent inquiry into how to better protect regional infrastructure from being shut down unilaterally by private owners. That inquiry examined whether new laws or powers could give local and regional authorities more control over critical assets in future.

The Reopening Campaign

The effort to reopen DSA has been driven primarily by City of Doncaster Council under Mayor Ros Jones, with support from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) under Coppard. The first major breakthrough came when Doncaster Council agreed a 125-year lease on the airport site with Peel Group — the result of what Jones described as ‘a year of detailed and complex negotiations.’

The council established FlyDoncaster Limited — a wholly owned company — to take on the operational role once an airport operator is appointed. That operator appointment process was described as ‘well under way’ by January 2025, when Jones confirmed at a Full Council meeting that an international airport operator was ready and waiting to take on the site.

In February 2025, Doncaster Council approved a £10 million funding package to progress the reopening, matched by a further £10 million from SYMCA — a combined £20 million public investment. The council also sought support from central government, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged in January 2025 to work with South Yorkshire on the project.

Reopening Timeline

Why the Spring 2026 Target Was Missed

Mayor Ros Jones had set spring 2026 as the target for the airport to reopen to passengers. That date has not been met. The complexity of the process — including a required submission to the Government’s Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) covering the use of public funding, negotiations with the airport operator, and the regulatory framework around restarting commercial aviation at a closed site — pushed the timeline back significantly.

In August 2025, Mayor Coppard was direct in updating the public: commercial passenger flights were ‘unlikely to be at full operational capacity’ for another three years. He added that the aim would be to achieve that sooner if possible, but the honest assessment was 2028 at the earliest.

The April 2026 landing of a Boeing 727 owned by 2Excel Aviation — a DSA-based charter airline — was described as the first large jet to land at the airport since the 2022 closure. It was a symbolic milestone rather than a sign of imminent commercial reopening, but it demonstrated that the runway infrastructure remains functional.

The Economic Case

The push to reopen DSA is not purely sentimental. The economic case prepared for Doncaster Council outlined the potential impact of a fully operational airport in stark terms: more than 5,000 direct jobs, 6,500 indirect jobs, and an economic boost to the South Yorkshire and wider region estimated at £6.6 billion when fully operational.

South Yorkshire has historically lacked direct air connectivity compared to neighbouring regions. Leeds Bradford Airport serves West Yorkshire but is not well positioned for South Yorkshire travellers. Manchester Airport is accessible but involves a significant journey from Doncaster and Sheffield. The loss of DSA left a genuine gap that businesses and holiday travellers in the area continue to feel.

What Passengers Should Know Right Now

As of June 2026, Doncaster Sheffield Airport remains closed to all commercial and passenger flights. There is no date confirmed for reopening. The runway has seen limited activity from freight and charter operations, but holidaymakers and business travellers cannot depart from the site.

For visitors planning a trip to the area, our guide to things to do in Sheffield covers getting to the city by train and road — the most practical options while DSA remains closed. For context on how Sheffield City Council and regional bodies like SYMCA are managing transport infrastructure and public funding, see our article on Sheffield City Council.