I'm sorry if it's insulting to some people, but I think that they should listen and think harder before writing if they don't want to feel offended when they are responded to vociferously. The locals and supporters on this thread seem generally sick of trying to explain to people who clearly don't want to understand.
Anyway.
I'm sure that you will agree that it is all but impossible to quantify "lots of business" in £'s, unless you are a local inward investment agency quango wonk
, which is why I didn't. But there is sufficient historical, anecdotal and geographic evidence available to consider such as;
1. The campaign is being led by the Federation of Small Business.
2. Rolls Royce and Boeing have engineering / research centres at the end of the runway.
3. The Airport is in an Enterprise Zone.
4. It's located within the city boundary, adjacent to the main manufacturing and commerce zone, and 6/7 minutes drive to the city centre down a fast dual carriageway.
5. HS2 will have a station a mile up the road.
6. Finningley is in Doncaster and an hour's drive away with all the aggravation of a large facility. Netherthorpe is 550m of grass. Sandtoft and Gamston are in other counties.
There was plenty of GA activity up until it closed, King Airs, twins, Lears, the odd Gulfstream, helicopters, and lots and lots of SEP's. Add in the training and club activities and it makes for a well used runway. CAT is great, and desirable, but it's not the be all and end all. PPRuNe has no shortage of rather superior salaried pilots who can't see beyond CAT. There's more to aviation than them, especially when it comes to how a runway impacts on a city.
I appreciate that the above just gives more ammunition for the disinterested and pointlessly argumentative to pick holes in somebody else's plans, but when you're in the Sheffield business community these things make a bit more sense.
Considering that there are at least two parties who want to use their own cash to reopen the facility, there's no real downside to anyone. I just think that they should be supported and given the best possible opportunity, while those who are responsible for any past wrongdoings are brought to book.