Sheffield City Airport Petition
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Sheffield City Airport opened in 1997 following development by the Sheffield Development Corporation. With the winding up of the Development Corporation in 1997, the freehold to the airport land was transferred to the City Council, which entered into a lease with the developer on the same terms as the original Development Agreement. The lease required the developers to use reasonable endeavours to operate the airport as set out in the planning approval. If, at the end of a 10 year ‘reverter period’ it could be demonstrated that the operation of the airport was not financially viable, the freehold of the site could be transferred from the Council to the developer for the sum of £1. The development of the airport by the private sector could only be financed if this reversion clause was in place. Without the ability to use the land as security, the development of the airport would not have been fundable because of the high risks involved. This process was overseen and expressly approved at the time by the District Valuer and Department for the Environment.
Sheffield City Council has managed subsequent processes within the inherited context outlined in this paper – namely a contracted operator, insufficient runway length and limited period of protection. A Joint Liaison Committee, made up of representatives from the Council, the airport operator and Chamber of Commerce nominees, received audited accounts and heard proposals to develop the airport operation. This committee was originally set up by the Development Corporation in an advisory capacity and continued to operate in this role once the freehold had transferred to the Council. Operational and regulatory decisions have been conducted directly between the Council and operator.
By February 1998 Sheffield City Airport had attracted its first scheduled service, a KLM link to Amsterdam. The airport went on to attract services to 6 destinations in total, operated over time by 6 different airlines. The services experienced mixed success, with the Amsterdam route carrying the most traffic. In the light of a restructuring of the KLM UK operations the route no longer fitted within the airline’s strategic development plan and ceased in 1999. Brymon and British Regional Airlines were merged into British Airways CitiExpress. British Airways found that the limited runway length meant that not all aircraft were able to operate at full payload. On routes to Belfast and Dublin, this became a major issue because of the volumes of baggage being carried. British Airways route to London City struggled to attract north-bound traffic and was not viable.
Of the other airlines involved, Sabena is no longer operational and Aer Arann indicated that yields on the Dublin service were not strong. The service to London City Airport, which continued with a local operator after British Airways pulled out, proved unsustainable due to competition from GNER East Coast and Midland Mainline as local business travellers did not continue to support the service once quality rail services were reinstated. By the time the current operators acquired a share in Sheffield City Airport, only the British Airways Belfast and Aer Arann Dublin services remained.
It is against this backdrop that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Sheffield City Council and the airport operators in 2001 supporting the creation of a partnership between Tinsley Park Ltd and Peel Holdings to take forward the development of the airport. The agreement records that, although reasonable effort should continue to be made to attract new scheduled airlines to Sheffield City Airport, “the long term future for aviation services in South Yorkshire will be underpinned by the development of Finningley as a commercial airport.”
Sheffield City Council has managed subsequent processes within the inherited context outlined in this paper – namely a contracted operator, insufficient runway length and limited period of protection. A Joint Liaison Committee, made up of representatives from the Council, the airport operator and Chamber of Commerce nominees, received audited accounts and heard proposals to develop the airport operation. This committee was originally set up by the Development Corporation in an advisory capacity and continued to operate in this role once the freehold had transferred to the Council. Operational and regulatory decisions have been conducted directly between the Council and operator.
By February 1998 Sheffield City Airport had attracted its first scheduled service, a KLM link to Amsterdam. The airport went on to attract services to 6 destinations in total, operated over time by 6 different airlines. The services experienced mixed success, with the Amsterdam route carrying the most traffic. In the light of a restructuring of the KLM UK operations the route no longer fitted within the airline’s strategic development plan and ceased in 1999. Brymon and British Regional Airlines were merged into British Airways CitiExpress. British Airways found that the limited runway length meant that not all aircraft were able to operate at full payload. On routes to Belfast and Dublin, this became a major issue because of the volumes of baggage being carried. British Airways route to London City struggled to attract north-bound traffic and was not viable.
Of the other airlines involved, Sabena is no longer operational and Aer Arann indicated that yields on the Dublin service were not strong. The service to London City Airport, which continued with a local operator after British Airways pulled out, proved unsustainable due to competition from GNER East Coast and Midland Mainline as local business travellers did not continue to support the service once quality rail services were reinstated. By the time the current operators acquired a share in Sheffield City Airport, only the British Airways Belfast and Aer Arann Dublin services remained.
It is against this backdrop that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Sheffield City Council and the airport operators in 2001 supporting the creation of a partnership between Tinsley Park Ltd and Peel Holdings to take forward the development of the airport. The agreement records that, although reasonable effort should continue to be made to attract new scheduled airlines to Sheffield City Airport, “the long term future for aviation services in South Yorkshire will be underpinned by the development of Finningley as a commercial airport.”
The two paragraphs in bold (from the "biased" independant report of 2005) show clearly why Peel ended up owning the site for £1. The £1 clause was in the development agreement from the outset, long before Peel's involvement. When Peel did get involved, they made it clear that their focus would be on DSA.
I suppose you could try and argue in court that Peel did not make reasonable efforts and so they breached their side of the MoU. Unless there was a line of airline CEOs prepared to come forward to say they would have operated from Sheffield between 2001 and 2007, this would be very easy for Peel to win the argument. The dismal record when it was open and the paucity of business services from HUY & DSA would only strengthen the Peel case.
So, where do you then with this enquiry? Beat up on a long defunct development agency for putting the £1 reverion clause in back in 1995. What will that achieve? Beat up on the council for selling to Peel ? Maybe. It would make the Peel / DSA haters feel better for a day or two, but it won't take the site out of Peel's ownership. Too late.
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I was reading this nonsense from the Cardiff thread only the other day:
Dubai money men could create 600 jobs at Pembrey Airport | This is South Wales
Pembrey Airfield has a 797m runway, a small terminal and sheep and the owner, who claims to have invested millions himself, claims that Ryanair and 14 other airlines have approached him to provide services as soon as he may have extended the runway ... He didn't approach them, they've approached him!
So here we have another thread, another airfield, with a wannabee owner with dosh who wants to change the world. North West's post seems to sum up that Sheffield City Airport failed, it only ever attracted 6 airlines, and not neccessarily at the same time, and each, it seems, left due to unprofitable loads and/or Sheffield's restricted runway.
What was Sheffield's airport operator supposed to do, continue throwing good money after bad or to wind the operation up?
Dubai money men could create 600 jobs at Pembrey Airport | This is South Wales
Pembrey Airfield has a 797m runway, a small terminal and sheep and the owner, who claims to have invested millions himself, claims that Ryanair and 14 other airlines have approached him to provide services as soon as he may have extended the runway ... He didn't approach them, they've approached him!
So here we have another thread, another airfield, with a wannabee owner with dosh who wants to change the world. North West's post seems to sum up that Sheffield City Airport failed, it only ever attracted 6 airlines, and not neccessarily at the same time, and each, it seems, left due to unprofitable loads and/or Sheffield's restricted runway.
What was Sheffield's airport operator supposed to do, continue throwing good money after bad or to wind the operation up?
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Pug - you ask what is my point?
There are plenty of airports 30 minutes or so from their cities. I don't even think that Sheffield have a road sign to Sheffield from DSA. In my view Sheffield should be prioritising a motorway link and a rail link and renaming it with Sheffield's name first. Of course any traffic growth is difficult at this time but its a good airport and needs the market (Sheffield) to get behind it.
There are plenty of airports 30 minutes or so from their cities. I don't even think that Sheffield have a road sign to Sheffield from DSA. In my view Sheffield should be prioritising a motorway link and a rail link and renaming it with Sheffield's name first. Of course any traffic growth is difficult at this time but its a good airport and needs the market (Sheffield) to get behind it.
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Morning all, I thought I'd join the debate.
So a "serious bidder" is about to bid for the site in order to re-open it as an airport, despite no airlines making money from SZD the first time round?
All this in preference to using DSA, a vastly larger and better equipped airport facility, which lies only 30 miles away?
Sorry, that logic of that defeats me. Why would airlines/customers who are currently avoiding DSA suddenly start flocking to SZD?
This is Fantasy Island stuff.
So a "serious bidder" is about to bid for the site in order to re-open it as an airport, despite no airlines making money from SZD the first time round?
All this in preference to using DSA, a vastly larger and better equipped airport facility, which lies only 30 miles away?
Sorry, that logic of that defeats me. Why would airlines/customers who are currently avoiding DSA suddenly start flocking to SZD?
This is Fantasy Island stuff.
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Finningley
Quote: "There are plenty of airports 30 minutes or so from their cities. I don't even think that Sheffield have a road sign to Sheffield from DSA. In my view Sheffield should be prioritising a motorway link and a rail link and renaming it with Sheffield's name first. Of course any traffic growth is difficult at this time but its a good airport and needs the market (Sheffield) to get behind it."
At present, Finningley is remarkably inaccessible. There probably needs to be a junction on the M18 at the A638 ("3A"?) near New Rossington to provide reasonable access to Sheffield. Either that, or a railway link to Doncaster (East Coast Main Line) and Sheffield-Midland, which have links to other towns in the area.
The questions are: (1) can that sort of expenditure be justified for the amount of traffic at DSA; (2) would that expenditure bring an adequate increase in traffic at DSA?
Suspect that the answer is "no" in both cases, but would love to be proven wrong.
As for renaming, how does "Sheffield-Finningley" sound?
At present, Finningley is remarkably inaccessible. There probably needs to be a junction on the M18 at the A638 ("3A"?) near New Rossington to provide reasonable access to Sheffield. Either that, or a railway link to Doncaster (East Coast Main Line) and Sheffield-Midland, which have links to other towns in the area.
The questions are: (1) can that sort of expenditure be justified for the amount of traffic at DSA; (2) would that expenditure bring an adequate increase in traffic at DSA?
Suspect that the answer is "no" in both cases, but would love to be proven wrong.
As for renaming, how does "Sheffield-Finningley" sound?
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The AA routefinder gives the time as 41 minutes Sheffield - DSA via Doncaster's inner ring road. This is optimistic owing to traffic congestion there; most people would stay on the M18/180 to Thorne and double back, even though this is two sides of a triangle.
The link road you mentioned to avoid this is to be built.
Carillion lands £18m link road - Highways Magazine
A rail link is extremely unlikely for reasons given earlier in the thread.
The link road you mentioned to avoid this is to be built.
Carillion lands £18m link road - Highways Magazine
A rail link is extremely unlikely for reasons given earlier in the thread.
Last edited by johnnychips; 1st Feb 2013 at 17:04.
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Fairdealfrank - it's a bit chicken and egg re the traffic demand question. But an airport with direct road links 15-20 mins from a city vs one that is 30-35 mins away....i think there are airlines who would think they could sell that proposition to passengers.
Re the name, there seems to be sensitivitiies around re Sheffield and Doncaster but the airlines will have to look at it for what best sells seats. No doubt Sheffield is the biggest and best known regional town/city, so Sheffield needs to take prime billing to sell seats. Sheffield Doncaster seems right. Of course locals will always know it as Finningley, just like they tend to refer to Ringway and Speke in those places.
Re the name, there seems to be sensitivitiies around re Sheffield and Doncaster but the airlines will have to look at it for what best sells seats. No doubt Sheffield is the biggest and best known regional town/city, so Sheffield needs to take prime billing to sell seats. Sheffield Doncaster seems right. Of course locals will always know it as Finningley, just like they tend to refer to Ringway and Speke in those places.
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I am not a legal expert, certainly not in this area of civil and contractual law, but I would like to raise a few points and ask for comments, particularly of anyone who has more knowledge of such things than I have.
The petition is asking for an independent public enquiry. My understanding is that a statutory enquiry can only be ordered by a Minister. This seems very unlikely. A local authority can hold an enquiry, presumably at its own expense, though as it would not be statutory, I guess it could not force anyone to attend. It seems that this would make it an expensive talking shop of dubious purpose.
Is not the right way forward one of judicial review, if the FSB believe that questionable decisions have been made in the past involving a public body? They, the FSB, or the rumoured millionaire, would have to dig into their pockets though...
The petition is asking for an independent public enquiry. My understanding is that a statutory enquiry can only be ordered by a Minister. This seems very unlikely. A local authority can hold an enquiry, presumably at its own expense, though as it would not be statutory, I guess it could not force anyone to attend. It seems that this would make it an expensive talking shop of dubious purpose.
Is not the right way forward one of judicial review, if the FSB believe that questionable decisions have been made in the past involving a public body? They, the FSB, or the rumoured millionaire, would have to dig into their pockets though...
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Quote: "Fairdealfrank - it's a bit chicken and egg re the traffic demand question. But an airport with direct road links 15-20 mins from a city vs one that is 30-35 mins away....i think there are airlines who would think they could sell that proposition to passengers.
Re the name, there seems to be sensitivitiies around re Sheffield and Doncaster but the airlines will have to look at it for what best sells seats. No doubt Sheffield is the biggest and best known regional town/city, so Sheffield needs to take prime billing to sell seats. Sheffield Doncaster seems right. Of course locals will always know it as Finningley, just like they tend to refer to Ringway and Speke in those places."
Hmmmm, so less of the "Robin Hood" and more of the "Sheffield"?
Re the name, there seems to be sensitivitiies around re Sheffield and Doncaster but the airlines will have to look at it for what best sells seats. No doubt Sheffield is the biggest and best known regional town/city, so Sheffield needs to take prime billing to sell seats. Sheffield Doncaster seems right. Of course locals will always know it as Finningley, just like they tend to refer to Ringway and Speke in those places."
Hmmmm, so less of the "Robin Hood" and more of the "Sheffield"?
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"Quote: "The link road you mentioned to avoid this is to be built."
Excellent news! Good to be proven wrong (on this occasion)."
And are Peel paying for this?
But will reap the benefit when Donny is found to be non profitable and is converted to industrial units.
Excellent news! Good to be proven wrong (on this occasion)."
And are Peel paying for this?
But will reap the benefit when Donny is found to be non profitable and is converted to industrial units.
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And are Peel paying for this?
But will reap the benefit when Donny is found to be non profitable and is converted to industrial units.
But will reap the benefit when Donny is found to be non profitable and is converted to industrial units.
I very much doubt Peel will turn DSA into industrial units, after investing £80 million to open up the airport plus millions each year in losses. They will never recoup the money from converting the airport into industrial units. There is plenty of surplus land and ex-RAF buildings around the airport without converting airport infrastructure.
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Robin Hood supporters seem to be putting a lot of faith in the so-called 'Airport Link Road'... but when you check the associated online info, you find that in fact the link road barely gets within 2 miles of the airport.
It's all here:
http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections...__FARRRS_.aspx
It'll be easier to get to Robin Hood than previously, but there will still be 2 miles of A-road and country lane to negotiate.
The question is, will any of this impress the airlines enough to persuade them to start offering the number of services required to allow DSA to break even? And even if the airlines do offer the services, are there enough people in the catchment area to fill all those seats?
It's all here:
http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/sections...__FARRRS_.aspx
It'll be easier to get to Robin Hood than previously, but there will still be 2 miles of A-road and country lane to negotiate.
The question is, will any of this impress the airlines enough to persuade them to start offering the number of services required to allow DSA to break even? And even if the airlines do offer the services, are there enough people in the catchment area to fill all those seats?
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Mickey Kaye, that's the publicly released figure. Do you know how much it is to have years of planning inquiries, buy the airfield from the MOD, build a terminal, car parks, access roads, resurface a runway and taxiways, install CAT III lighting, ILS, NDB, DME, Radar, ATC equipment, fire equipment, soundproof nearby homes and obtain the requried CAA licences?
I bet you wouldn't get much change from £80 million for all that. And it's losing millions each year.
The guy who wants to buy Sheffield and turn it into a decent GA and business airfield better have deep pockets. It won't cost anywhere near £80 million, but he'll certainly need a large bank balance and be willing to lose it all.
Norman Normal, when the new link road is built, Finningley will be 5 minutes from the M18. DSA will be only 20 minutes from SZD. I'm not sure that "2 miles of A-road and country lane to negotiate" is really a challenge, considering that East Midlands is 2 miles along an A-road, and Leeds Bradford may as well be Cumbria for the pain that it is to travel there.
I bet you wouldn't get much change from £80 million for all that. And it's losing millions each year.
The guy who wants to buy Sheffield and turn it into a decent GA and business airfield better have deep pockets. It won't cost anywhere near £80 million, but he'll certainly need a large bank balance and be willing to lose it all.
Norman Normal, when the new link road is built, Finningley will be 5 minutes from the M18. DSA will be only 20 minutes from SZD. I'm not sure that "2 miles of A-road and country lane to negotiate" is really a challenge, considering that East Midlands is 2 miles along an A-road, and Leeds Bradford may as well be Cumbria for the pain that it is to travel there.
Last edited by wb9999; 7th Feb 2013 at 09:48.
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Yes but out of that 80 million How much did peel actually put in? How much was europen grants etc?
When Peel took over Teeside they promised to invest 15 million (can't remember the actual figure but it was a significant amount) and as far as I am aware they have invested absolutely nothing.
When Peel took over Teeside they promised to invest 15 million (can't remember the actual figure but it was a significant amount) and as far as I am aware they have invested absolutely nothing.
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From the limited information publicly available on the internet, it looks like Peel received £15 million in EU grants, and £2.9 million from DMBC. But that barely covers the losses at DSA of the last 2 years alone.