Finningley Airport, Doncaster gets the Green Light from HMG

[Thrush]

It's finally happenned!

Despite the Nimbys the plans to develop FY as an airport for the area have been given the go-ahead.

Great news for the area and for those people who will work there as the area has suffered since the mines closed. Now maybe people will be able to get on with their lives and the Nimbys will stop moaning.

The "Antis" fought for a Public Inquiry and got one, so now maybe they'll be satisfied.

BBC Link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/2916593.stm



It's a fine site and a fine area with fine people, so let's make it work!!

[Justin Abeaver]

Great news.

Does anyone know who intends to open a base there?

I'd imagine it will be FreightDogs to begin with, but who knows.

[johnwalton]

Notice the BBCs reporting is up to scratch as ever,

Quote from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/i_love_sy/finningley/facts.shtml

"Finningley will be similar in size to Manchester airport
...
Finningley will aim to handle 2m passengers each year by 2014. ... Manchester airport by comparison carries 18 million passengers a year. "

Perhaps they are referring to area rather than throughput, but seems like a bit of sensationalism to me.

Is Finnningley positioned near the rail network and what major roads is it near? I imagine they would be key questions for both new cargo and passenger ops. I think the first routes will probably be nonbased flights to London, and maybe a KLM based aircraft to AMS, along with some limited charter ops.

[oki]

I was based at FY in the late 70s and, if memory serves, the runway is 21/03 and VERY long - an ex-V Force base. The place is poorly served by roads but the M18 (?) isn't a million miles away, a bit of infrastructure investment would sort that. Catchment area is potentially massive as it encompasses South & North Yorks plus Humberside & the Pennines. Good luck to all the new ventures.

[ShyTorque]

JohnWalton,

Finningley has a rail link on the north side of the airfield boundary and is close to the London main line. It is also close to the M18 and A1.

This is good news indeed, very many folk in the area have been on or near near the breadline since the demise of the coal industry, and of RAF Finningley for that matter.

[Caslance]

Hmmm........the coal industry.

Wasn't there some issue about subsidence when the place was an active RAF base?

I went to some absolutely stonking airshows at Finningley - the Aussie F-111 at the Queen's Silver Jubilee Display particularly comes to mind - so the place has a lot of happy memories for me.

[gashcan]

Yeah geat news for FY - I too have happy memories of that place -and some not so good, which consist mainly of itchy teeth, furry brains and cold half-eaten kebabs first thing in the morning!!

Never mind all that though - what will be the impact on Humberside?

[VP8]

Remember the F111 very well!!! Was on the Planning team at Finners and doing the flypast timings.

CV sent in today as I want to move back oop north

VEEPS ;)

[batty]

Finningley brings back memories of running through cold muddy ditches, running around with pine poles on my shoulders and
getting generaly beasted.

Not to mention the Donny Slappers!!...;)

All due to the AAITC, Airmen Aicrew Inital Traing Course 125/127.

[flyingbe.com]

Peel Holdings own the site, they had a 50% stake in Sheffield Airport, so they will have controllers, firemen and trained workers to call on. The airport building at Sheffield was a prefab so easily moved. The word is 18 months and it will be up and running.

Wasnt the runway reconstructed just before it closed??

The local council are very pro finningley so planning should go smoothly. Road links, well as you all say it is very close to the M18/A1 and the M1 and M62 arent far away, there is a clear run of farmers field from the M18 around J4 to the Finningley site and the rail link is still there.

I would be very interested to hear who is starting up there.

[scroggs]

Finningley has a 9000 ft runway, 21/03. Due to building at the north end of the airfield, a displaced threshold may reduce the 21 LDA to around 8500ft. The Lincoln-Doncaster railway line passes along the northern boundary of the airfield, and connects with the East Coast main line 2 miles west of the airfield. The M18 motorway passes about 1.5 miles west of the field, and joins the A1M 3 miles west of the field, the M1 10 miles southwest and the M180 5 miles north. The A1M and M18 both connect with the M62 about 15 miles north. The runway was rebuilt, down to its foundations, in 1989 - when it was discovered that the WW2 contractors had skimped somewhat on the depth of concrete and hardcore when the runway was originally built, in contrast with the 1950's southern extension!

There is not and never has been any coal mining subsidence at Finningley. The NCB and its successors were not allowed to mine under active RAF airfields; though it tried many times in Parliament to 'trick' the MoD into suggesting it had 'no plans' for Finningley after some notional date. The NCB was well aware that the MoD worked only 5 years ahead at the time, and tried to exploit that. They were directly responsible for the MoD moving its planning horizon to 20 years or more to defeat this kind of political gamesmanship. The result was that no coal seams were ever worked under Finningley.

[classjazz]

I have to accept the comments made by "scroggs" concerning the coal mining subsidence at Finningley but that is not the way I remember it during the 8 years I spent flying out of there.
We certainly had the occasional problem with hangar doors which were always attributable to subsidence and although this is hearsay gleaned at the time, the Jetstream Simulator had problems sometimes due to sub-surface movement. The coal seam streched from the Rossington colliery right out to the North Sea and I cannot see that the NCB - as it was - would have let the extraction of coal be halted when such a lucrative source was available. Again I was told when stationed at Fininngley that the previous Vulcan simulator suffered even more prblems but in those days the mining was in full swing.

There are other problems which I remember from my days flying out of 20/02. Due to the r/w alignment, there always seemed to be a limiting cross wind exacerbated by the turbulence from the hangars. If they are to be demolished it may cure that problem.

Lastly, the area is surrounded by gravel pits which are natural habitats for birds.Whilst I only suffered one birdstrike (through the canopy) it could be an expensive problem for the commercial operators.
I hope it all goes ahead but would be interested to see how the "charges" compare with Humberside. That place was very expensive, I seem to remember and we were never allowed to put wheels on the deck for fear of incurring large bills.

[scroggs]

classjazz, I should be more specific: I was really referring to the runway and associated taxiways, not to the former domestic and technical sites which may well have sufferred due to activities at Rossington. It's also debatable as to whether the NCB fully obeyed the restrictions placed on it by the Government! I don't have any information to suggest one way or the other about that, but my source (very high in the MoD of the late '80s) is adamant that the runway never suffered any subsidence and that no mining activity of a nature that could cause subsidence took place under the airfield.

[Brakes to Park]

batty , thou art nobbut a lad.

Ar were there on AAITC 80 course when men were men and when we asked for a cuppa tea we got milk and sugar but half a tea bag were a bonus. Days were so long that we used to get up before we went to bed and when you passed t'course you went to 't mess and someone had to play "spoons". That were me lad and me 'ead still hurts.

[niknak]

There has been a lot of interest in Finningly from the long haul charter operators that would otherwise operate from MAN (due to the high charges there), and occassionally from LBA, HUY and EMA.
Freight is an obvious one, along with "bums to the sun" charter flights, heavy maintenance, painting etc. There is also plenty of scope for flying training of all sorts.
I don't know about schedule services, no doubt they'd be a success if they were operated by the low cost brigade.

Leeds must be concerned about losing punters who live on the eastern side of the LBA catchment area, as the journey to Finningly would be a doddle compared to driving to Leeds Airport.

As for Humerside, they must be cr**ping themselves, they have very few schedules (just ABZ and AMS I think), and the charter market they've worked so hard to build up will probably be undercut by Peels to take most of it to Finningly.

Peels employ all their own staff, and will be breath of fresh air for the area and aviation in the North.

[Algy]

Out of curisoity...anyone based at Finningley c.1982/3 who knows who were the spooky US guys in the portakabins with all the antennae outside the officers' mess.

All the studes were burning with curiosity but thought better of asking. Presumably it's history now...

[maninblack]

Geologically that area is a mixture of sand and gravel in the surface layers which would account for some building movement. Not an insurmountable problem though.

[Charlie32]

Could be an ideal opportunity for Branson to sweep up the long haul from the North and Midlands, by providing integrated Virgin rail and air service. If only he could sort the railways out!

[Chillwinston]

In the local press, there was an alledged quote from MO'L of Ryanair saying they would be looking at Finningley as a potential base.

Must be true cos its in black and white!

As for the area being on the bread line, house prices within these so called "Pit villages" are amongst the highest in South Yorkshire and compare well with the Midlands.

As for the slappers of Doncaster, those so called slappers could be serving your hot beverages in the comming months..... so beware!

Good luck to the airport and all concerned

[big.al]

I think that this is excellent news, not only for the local economy but for aviation in general. I for one would use Finningley to travel on my hols, but I wonder what they'll call it? Yorkshire International perhaps? Is there already an airport with the code YIA?

[charterguy]

Big.al

It will probably end up being called Doncaster International. The airport already has its own IATA code which is DCS.

If they decide to call it South Yorks Int'l or something along those lines, it would confuse the hell out of overseas visitors. We already have two confusing airport names in the region (Humberside and East Midlands).

Mind you, Ryanair will probably rename it Manchester-Doncaster anyway !!!

Good news is that the airport got the go-ahead. Unlike Humberside it will not be council-run, and will have opening hours to suit operators, not council staff !!!

Good luck to everyone involved with DCS.

CG

[notice]

Apart from the above 14 customers and Donnygate Council junkets, can't see much high-yield demand for flying from here.
LBA isn't ideal but it is the Yorkshire business airport and t'lads wit'brass do live nearby (or use MAN).

[RAFAT]

Ryanair! :( God I hope not, anybody but them!