Official VTTS announcement coming around the 18th - I'd start cancelling the direct debits if I we're you. It's going to be pretty and also goes against the heritage lottery grant terms.

Looking at social media, some are booking as normal. some are waiting to see and some running around screaming their heads off.

The local conservative MP is very active. There is some political stuff going on, and I;m sure stuff going on that they can't talk about.

Also Oliver Coppard, Mayor of the South Yorkshire region published the below

Since the announcement about the airport a few weeks ago, there are a number of questions I’ve seen crop-up online fairly regularly. I thought it might be helpful to do an FAQs for people, so they can better understand what’s happening and what we’re doing about it.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ‘𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝’ 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭?
Peel have set a very short timetable for the negotiations about the future of the airport, but I’m pushing for them to extend that as quickly as we can, for as long as we can. I’ve asked for 12 months, so we have enough time to properly examine every option. In my discussions with the government’s Aviation Minister (Robert Courts MP) last week, he said Peel had made clear to him that they would be extending the negotiation timetable, and I have asked him to write to Peel to confirm they will be following through on that commitment.
𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭?
We’re pushing them on this point. They’ve made some more encouraging noises over the last two weeks, but they have not communicated a firm decision to either keep DSA open or sell it. We’re in a negotiation, so we’re working through all the options, but we have been clear with Peel that our goal is to keep the airport open and operational. My view is that if Peel aren’t prepared or able to make DSA a success, then I want an owner or operator who can.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭?
Doncaster Council is the Planning Authority and has been explicit with Peel that the airport is at the heart of their plan. But ultimately, Peel are the owners of the airport, so if they refuse to sell, close it down and mothball the site then under the current rules there’s nothing I, the council, the government, or anyone else can do to stop them.
I’m really frustrated by that, but I don’t have any powers to force them into either selling the airport as a going concern or keeping it open and running it themselves.
𝐂𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭?
We’re not ruling anything out. The Mayor of Tees Valley – Ben Houchen – bought Teesside airport and all the land around it from Peel for £40 million. Unfortunately, Teesside has lost a fairly large amount of public money since then (most recently posting losses of £12 million and £14 million over the last two years) as well as losing their Heathrow route. To a certain extent, the development and sale of the land around their airport can be used to offset those losses.
DSA is a bigger airport than Teesside and likely worth much more than, and yet there is much less available land around it.
That doesn’t make it impossible, but my first preference is for a private sector company or consortium with a proven track record to take on the airport if Peel aren’t prepared to keep it going. That’s because the right private sector partner will have the expertise, connections, and access to funding to secure the long-term future of DSA.
I’m also acutely conscious that we’re in a negotiation with Peel and if the public sector were to commit to buying the airport ‘no-matter what’ (as some have advocated) it would wholly undermine our position and essentially mean we were offering to write Peel a blank cheque.
Some people have talked about ‘Compulsory Purchase Orders’. Again, we’re keeping all options on the table. But my priority is saving peoples’ jobs, and a CPO wouldn’t solve the immediate problem of keeping operations going at the airport and maintaining confidence in DSA because it can take years to enforce.
𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭?
The =AT0hvLGfytvzABAoenRSthW6h7D1DU6gaiXzjLsDY2AYTD9Zcv4W52YGrIb WHaP5iyuaUiKAOBqbU3MbTi2nEwNkF-8uBVtujvDsN0VrqoSYeuErT1WVOqdOTnvnAmp4Plx7YLktZ_AMy6zZHOXvy9 UtM7vRZjNrl93j2OVGlVYOYn36oqXO3ABzYpeY5TxlvSRCx6CH]Change.Org petition is really important because it shows the strength of the support in the community. But it’s not the same thing as an official parliamentary petition. An official parliamentary petition triggers a debate in parliament once 100,000 people have signed it. The =AT0hvLGfytvzABAoenRSthW6h7D1DU6gaiXzjLsDY2AYTD9Zcv4W52YGrIb WHaP5iyuaUiKAOBqbU3MbTi2nEwNkF-8uBVtujvDsN0VrqoSYeuErT1WVOqdOTnvnAmp4Plx7YLktZ_AMy6zZHOXvy9 UtM7vRZjNrl93j2OVGlVYOYn36oqXO3ABzYpeY5TxlvSRCx6CH]change.org petition won’t automatically trigger a debate in parliament although our local MPs can ask for an ‘adjournment debate’ about DSA to happen once parliament returns from their summer recess in September.
𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭?
The organisation I lead - SYMCA - and Doncaster Council been pushing the government to put a rail link into the airport for years. My predecessor as Mayor – Dan Jarvis – asked the government to extend the East Coast Mainline (ECML) to the airport, which would have cost around £300 million. That request was turned down by the government in 2020: https://www.thestar.co.uk/.../shock-as-ps300m-doncaster...
More recently, after months of negotiations, the government have finally agreed to begin the feasibility work for a more modest scheme – a £30 million extension to the Lincoln Line – through something called CRSTS funding. It’s still a good thing to do, but it won’t have the same benefits the ECML scheme would have had.

Everyone is wasting their time unfortunately. No way does the airport stay open.

Oliver Coppard knows this as well. He's already been informed.

Passengers flights will end at the end of October, with cargo and general aviation at some point next year.

Cargo maybe sooner - Chapman Freeborn already in active discussions in finding an alternative for the perishable flights.

Timmy, I’m confused for years you have championed any failure of DSA and in the above post you say “unfortunately”??

Perhaps he realises he will be redundant as the forbearer of doom.

No I think he is just being realistic

I agree, though perhaps "glass half full" realistic.

As for the transfer of commercial flights, I suspect that EMA may put in a competitive bid for the Eastern European Wizz operation. They could also be interested in the perishable cargo business, provided of course that DHL could be convinced to handle the flights, which if they are scheduled during the wrong time of the day they may well prefer not to. I don't believe any of the other cargo operators, such as UPS and FedEx are interested in third party handling, but as I don't work on the airport I wouldn't know for sure.

I know business is business but I wouldn’t have thought that EMA would go after Wizz too strongly. I could imagine an awful lot of toys emanating from a certain airline’s pram if they were to arrive on the scene! Perhaps BY may increase their presence with an additional aircraft based.

As far as freight is concerned, I am still not convinced that, even if passenger ops were paused at DSA, then freight might not continue in some form.
If it were to cease, then some may be transferred to EMA, but I doubt the perishable business would. Handling and ramp space could be a problem.

EMA *should* have been or be chasing Wizz,as long as it would be profitable. Every extra airline flying to an airport spreads the risk and prevents EMA being held to ransom by an airline having a tantrum like a toddler

HUY has a purpose built perishables hub on site. Not sure I’d like to see them trying to accommodate a 747 though 😂

EMA is less than 40 miles from BHX where Wizz have multiple routes from Wizz, so not sure EMA makes senSe.
More at BHX please if not I think they would chose LBA

Probably LBA in pole position for any Wizzair routes, especially Bucharest if DSA closes or Wizzair pull out.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they’re stealing a March on that now, given the ongoing uncertainty and apparent break down in the commercial relationship at DSA. The routes seem to operate off peak so might be a good fit for LBA given stand constraints at first and second wave periods.

Or MME?

The idea of MME, which has had a stench of death hanging over it for many years, coming to the rescue of pax at DSA seems a bit of a stretch

Why?

Personally, I think Wizz will have a good idea of the areas of England of interest to their customers and MME might well be too far out of the way

Are MME not opening a cargo centre?

Wizz are in advanced talks with LBA.

I expect something to be announced shortly after DSA closure is confirmed.

I still want you to be wrong, but do fear that it is inevitable.

Are LBA's operating hours for ATC/runway/terminal supportive of a Wizz operation... both based around current DSA schedules and also in case of any notable delays?

The majority PAX on W6 routes are south of the Humber, why would they travel to LBA? Surely HUY is the better alternative to DSA or is HUY management as inept as Peel.

About 15(?) Jet2/Ryanair based at the a moment operating around the clock The current Wizz DSA operation would fit between based a/c waves, so shouldn't be a problem

There's a new one been opened, but doubt it couldn't handle a 747 of fresh produce. I'd have thought BHX would be up for this one? Does anybody know the end destination of the produce flights?

For me the biggest prize for good jobs would be the 2Exel operation. Teesside has a like for like hangar if FedEx road cargo could be moved.

I agree, but would the 727's fit?

I would like to say yes going by what has been in hangar 1. Quite sure Dan Air 727s have been in and definitely, CL 44 guppy and 767 up to the tail.

Mark Chadwick, Oliver Coppard,

I have been sent your social media comments by email this morning saying that my post is categorically untrue.

Well I'd just like to correct you, my post is factually correct. Chapman freeborn are in active discussions with other airports, one being BHX and the other STN.

You didn't seem to care when I posted that silkways broker was no longer using DSA for their 747 flights, and they cancelled almost 20 flights overnight into DSA following PEELS consultation announcement.

May I suggest, as neither of you work within this industry before shooting the messenger down, telling people im wrong that you actually fact check your facts before posting.

My posts by the way are not designed to be negative against the airport, but to highlight the willingness and proactive work being undertaken by PEEL/DSA management to close this airport.

You should try working with these idiots. :ugh:

Re your comment, who were the owners of MME to have allowed it to get to that state?

Not sure inept is appropriate. No idea what HUY are doing with regards to aviation development (if anything), but they might find that dealing with low cost airlines actually costs them more than having just the KLM and Eastern traffic. Airlines are trying to balance their books at the moment following Covid, and with the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and an upcoming cost of living crisis/recession, I suspect are being pretty ruthless on airports with regards to landing and handling charges. Only the bigger airports with the critical mass can absorb that cost.

As I've said earlier all the efforts to save it are a waste of time. The decision has already been made and that's a fact.

And if by some miracle it did stay open, the current operators will still want to shift their offerings away as the place is too tarnished now.

I wouldn't be so sure....

If the right deal is made that suits all the airport will carry on, albeit it would have to change its modus operandi. It has a far better infrastructure than other airports to offer, just getting the right operators

Is that not the point however, it has been unable to attract the ‘right operators’ and so we have come to this stage!

By right, I mean additional to current.....or an expansion of the incumbent...

It's always been at 'this stage' also looking for the next thing but just never been able to grab it. Maybe this approach from Peel may be the trigger for essential growth, who really knows...... We will find out soon.
​​​

The latest letter from the Peel chairman makes things pretty clear. Their decision is already made

As someone with no parochial interest, I find this a disaster of regional planning. The area East of the Pennines and North of the Trent should have a single airport capable of handling all sizes of aircraft from regional to large cargo, and reasonably accessible from all directions. LBA can never fill that role, and the investment proposed there would be better spent on building proper facilities at DSA.

Communist! or how does that work in a free market?

I think that you'll find that all other transport infrastructure is centrally planned.

I believe that #inOban has it about spot on. There way too many "airports" in England, and consolidating on the "wrong one" could be viewed as yet another infrastructure faux pas. Unfortunately allowing "the market to decide" will likely result in just that. We are extremely good at shooting ourselves in the foot both with regard to infrastructure as well as political dogma.

And that is exactly what has happened to DSA. Prior to approval many in the aviation business said another airport was not needed.