Originally Posted by
Skipness One Foxtrot
The airport is closed because there was no strong business model for opening in the first place. Consistent profits were never returned and any ROI just wasn't there. The brutal truth is that the totality of the whole DSA passenger operation has been effortlessly absorbed by nearby airports without as much as a ripple. DSA had no USP, no differentiator. There needed to be a critical mass to stand any chance of being consistently profitable, they never got it. See also Southend and possibly Teesside, both of which are IMHO, similar.
Heartbreaking from one standpoint, but unless you openly operate as public service, that's how it works out.
I think it was built for the low-cost model following the success of Liverpool. Don’t think they banked on Leeds changing their strategy. What is telling is that since DSA opened, Ryanair opened a base at LBA and EMA, Jet2 opened a base at EMA and continued expansion from LBA, easyJet tried something a couple of times at DSA (they don’t operate anything this part of the world between LTN and NCL!) but that didn’t work out for whatever reason. Contrary to popular opinion they have tried to get Jet2 and KLM on board by offering financial incentives to do so but they have remained ambivalent at best.
I do think it could be a success, but it would have to be at the cost of LBA and to an extent EMA. Be interesting to see how these talks conclude. Heard some fantastical rumours about who the bidder(s) is/are and what their influence is and plans are. Believe it when I see it though.