Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
Hmm - no he didn't. What Peel said is they would close the airport if the airport couldn't be returned to profit once they'd implemented their Masterplan, which proposed building houses to fund a business park on the south of the airport. Mayor Houchen has said that the airport will close if it can't be returned to profit once he's implemented his Masterplan, which is funding the development of a business park on the south side of the airport (which is now 50% owned by private developers). The main difference between the two Masterplans seems to be that the funding from one came from housing, while the other the money comes from the Mayors pot for regenerating the region, provided by central govt (i.e. taxpayers)
Further details available in Private Eye and other local media sources.
https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk...t-talk-4063592
Much is being made of how Ben Houchen has written the blueprint for how DSA can be ‘saved’, and is used an example of further Peel mismanagement in the airport sector.
Teesside is economies of scale much smaller, Peel never closed it, they bought it for £500,000 then sold it for £40million. Not sure how much they invested in it during their tenure. It is a small airport and I would think somewhat more likely to become profitable at a lower passenger/freight throughput.
Finningley was purchased from MOD for £78million, I believe some £90million was then invested into the site to make it into an airport. Despite offering subsidies from Peel themselves and via various regional growth funds and quangos the airport struggled to attract sufficient growth in passenger and freight business. It therefore persistently reported losses of around £10 million per year. With no opportunity for growth in the passenger market (in spite of the success of TUI there), and freight business tricky to attract due direct local competition, Peel have made the decision to close.
How will anyone do things differently? You cannot magic business out of thin air. If the Save DSA log are reading this, no Virgin, Emirates BA etc do not want to fly from DSA and Peel have not deterred them from doing so by ‘charging high fees’.