I concur with the above. Sadly in all reality we are looking at the last few weeks of DSA. With vacancies and golden hellos left right and centre at the moment no one in their right mind will stay on that doesn’t need to. From previous experience in another field this will probably suit Peel just fine.

Also I’d expect TUI in particular to now suffer a catastrophic drop in forward bookings for this season. Given their own woes this news may also suit them if it allows them to shift some aircraft and crew around the country.

Thanks for the support but after reading a post from god immortal himself, i genuinely didn't expect one and to be honest, being the cretin he poses himself as, on a keyboard I'd rather not accept it.

All senior management fled the ship with some decent pay-out's, its all been arranged and all backhanded so sadly the writings on the wall, its just now a box ticking exercise.

Management turned away so many flights which we're trying to book in, either through unwillingness, laziness or sheer disbelief. They bang on about how "we didn't have space to take more cargo".. its quite simply, rent a warehouse somewhere and keep the revenue coming in, rather then laying staff off, putting them on furlough but they are too shortsighted to fix the problem they would rather take their £60k+ a year, knowing whatever happens they still get paid at the end of the month.

I see Keith Moran has denied the above claims this morning on Linkedin, and so the damage limitation starts as they all start to polish their own CV's and hope of finding employment before the lights are finally turned off in October.

I will post more as and when I have it.

SB.

Indeed. Despite their calming messages about flights going ahead as normal, TUI are probably scrambling behind the scenes to move their flying programme out as soon as it can possibly be achieved.

I feel terribly sad for the airport staff who’ve had this dropped on them. I expect they’ll find work available at the other airports in the region if they want it, given the well-publicised shortages.

They are still selling holidays. Although of course the airport has announced any official closure yet.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e9a1ea6afb.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1a21f625f7.jpg

Getjet B738 LY-UNO arrives on the 17th to op for TUI replacing the heap of junk that is ES-SAM.

There goes another diversion airfield.

I'm still waiting for TimmyW to respond to his claim about 2Excel Aviation "It will be interesting to see what the likes of 2Excel say about this. They've invested tens of millions into their set up at the airport. I can't see them rolling over and leaving without huge financial compensation."

Posted June 3rd
Seems with hindsight that Wizz were being pushed out rather than Wizz instigating the move. All part of the strategy to prepare the airport for closure.

Or Wizz playing hardball with an agreed contract was the straw that broke the camels back and convinced them that they weren't going to get to profit - remember that there had just been significant investment in the terminal etc

Maybe there is truth and not damage limitation. You can't just rent a warehouse and turn it into a secure cargo facility with Airside access with out huge expense for adhoc ops. If DSA had more schedule cargo then your absolutely right that would be a sensible idea.

It sounds like a text book copy of the plans to close Teesside from when Peel owned that.

Easy to slag off Peel, but who remembers Liverpool before they took over? Sure they are interested in developing the surrounding land (which airport company isn't?) but that land is usually worth more adjacent to an operational airport rather than just another brownfield site (which aren't exactly lacking in Teesside, Doncaster, Sheffield or Liverpool)

The GetJet is arriving for start of flying on the 18th and the smartlynx is a heap of junk. But it’s not replacing it.

Why would they cancel? They will just move the based airplanes somewhere else and the flights with them. The summer rush should have calmed down, so capacity hopefully not the issue.

As for staff, they can be retained with a bonus payment to work until closure - if it closes.

I think it's rather sad. Part of me thinks it's a high stakes poker game. We will see the result in a few weeks.

One thing that I think that Peel have had historically is a very light touch from the planners. I have a suspicion that will change going forward.

You would hope DMBC would scupper any non aviation plans from Peel, oppose planning applications, put weight limits on proximity access routes… but hey Peel will play the job creation card to counter… in an economy where there are jobs that can’t be filled?
£20m Loan?? Would you give Peel any more money having shown their cards? Knowing what has been posted recently would you expect the money to be spent wisely? I don’t think Peel or their management strategy are the right fit for aviation development and growth at DSA (They will never achieve profitability protecting TUI from competition - their operation is too small).
South Yorkshire councils buying the airport? I can’t see Peel selling the airport for a reasonable sum, their value will include future development which is already public and will probably set the value well in excess of that a collective council would be willing or able to pay. The only way it will be viable is if DMBC play hard ball with planning and access and make the site less valuable.
So there we are, looking like a good airport, with massive potential will close… such a shame.

NPAS haven’t had much life out of their expensive Doncaster base. Another waste of taxpayers’ money?

except that was proven to be myth, even if all the armchair experts and keyboard warrior trolls still believe it :rolleyes:

Where do we think the cargo flights will move to with their perishable goods inbound only.

For all the comments about the operator etc, fact is the airport has been a complete failure (just like nearby new-build Sheffield airport was before it). Passenger departures today - nine. Comprising eight TUI 737s operating their peak season this month, and one Wizz flight; sometimes there are more of the latter, all typically concentrated late evening. That's it. Mainstream cargo flights vary between none and a couple per day, only because they are offered lower rates than anywhere else. For this you need security, border force, ops side, catering and retail, everything.

The four TUI departures by based aircraft today between 06.00 and 07.00 are going to need full security staffing between around 04.00 and 06.30 for up to 700 departing passengers, paid at night rate, then there's nothing until 14.00 for them. Not only inefficient, wherever are you going to find staff to handle just that..

The owner, whoever they might be, has obviously lost a packet on running the place. Bit of a classic example of "look, there's a big unused runway, let's have an airport".

Actually Southend is far worse yet they soldier on. A busy day is 3 departures down there. A quiet day is just 1.