Sheffield City Airport - Petition (please sign)

[sheftory]

Sheffield City Airport is underthreat, and it will be a blow to the City of Sheffield and existing users if the Airport were to close or to be reduced in operational size.

If you wish to see the petition, add comments or read the case for the airport, please do take a look at our website in this last attempt to save a valuable asset for UK aviation:

http://www.sheffieldconservatives.org/section/101/

[cessna l plate]

I am a student at Sheffield, and for no other than selfish reasons I would be happy to sign the petition. However, it is only open to residents of Sheffield, and I live on the other side of the hills!!!

Please remember that this does not only affect the residents of the fair city, there is a wider impact on the aviation community as a whole. I travel there to learn to fly, others fly into there for business or pleasure or even both. Please re-post with a petition that is open to anyone!!!

[niknak]

Sadly, the arguments on the Conservatives web site are nonsense and total fantasy.

Sheffield City Airport was developed with the aim of being a successful regional airport with international and regional links throughout Europe and the UK.
A lot of ratepayers and European money subsidised airlines to come to Sheffield and operate services to here, there and everywhere.
Every single scheduled service was a spectacular failure and very quickly, the airport went down hill and although there is some trade there, the majority of which is either G/A or the police helicopter, it's nowhere near enough to warrant keeping it open unless it is sold to a private operator.

This is what happens when you build an airport next to a major motorway, near 3 international airports and within easy reach of an excellent railway network.

I'd like to see Sheffield remain open, but it shouldn't be at the ratepayers expense - they have nothing to gain from it - sell it or close it.

[Noah Zark.]

I heard very recently from someone with a business at the airport, that it is in the uncomfortable position (for the owners, who wished this were not the case, in order to shut it) that it is now actually making a profit.

[helicopter-redeye]

Originally Posted by niknak

Every single scheduled service was a spectacular failure and very quickly, the airport went down hill and although there is some trade there, the majority of which is either G/A or the police helicopter, it's nowhere near enough to warrant keeping it open unless it is sold to a private operator.
This is what happens when you build an airport next to a major motorway, near 3 international airports and within easy reach of an excellent railway network.
I'd like to see Sheffield remain open, but it shouldn't be at the ratepayers expense - they have nothing to gain from it - sell it or close it.

Maybe you've never tried travelling to the 'three international airports' buddy.

It takes an hour off peak (i.e. 5am) to get to East Midlands and up to three hours to get to Manchester from Sheffield.

I've never tried Leeds (too far) and Doncaster is a tourist airport not a business airport. Whatever propaganda comes out about the number of flights, they are not at the time of day that will sustain business travel and many of the 'increased flights' are not regular.

Maybe also you never tried the services from Sheffield. I used to use Amsterdam and Brussels and each flight was packed. The Brussels flights from EMA and MAN are also packed. And both are next to motorways (equally packed with cars streaming North...)

Sheffield has the most lamentable travel network of any major city in Europe.

On peak it takes two hours to get to Leeds by road (from the airport adjacent motorway). If you are lucky and the ragged train service is even working then London is 2.5hrs away. 80% of services are late (I know, I was on them).

What the city needs is an airport that takes city hopper flights - both domestic and out to Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, etc.

I'm sure "Sir Bob" and his buddies don't agree, but they like the leisurely trip by train - in first class of course.

[niknak]

Originally Posted by helicopter-redeye

Maybe you've never tried travelling to the 'three international airports' buddy.
It takes an hour off peak (i.e. 5am) to get to East Midlands and up to three hours to get to Manchester from Sheffield.
I've never tried Leeds (too far) and Doncaster is a tourist airport not a business airport. Whatever propaganda comes out about the number of flights, they are not at the time of day that will sustain business travel and many of the 'increased flights' are not regular.
Maybe also you never tried the services from Sheffield. I used to use Amsterdam and Brussels and each flight was packed. The Brussels flights from EMA and MAN are also packed. And both are next to motorways (equally packed with cars streaming North...)
Sheffield has the most lamentable travel network of any major city in Europe.
On peak it takes two hours to get to Leeds by road (from the airport adjacent motorway). If you are lucky and the ragged train service is even working then London is 2.5hrs away. 80% of services are late (I know, I was on them).
What the city needs is an airport that takes city hopper flights - both domestic and out to Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, etc.
I'm sure "Sir Bob" and his buddies don't agree, but they like the leisurely trip by train - in first class of course.

So, if it's a sure fire success, why did [B]ALL[B] the scheduled services cease to operate after a very short while?
I have used it and indeed have worked there.
Its a fantastic facilty for the present operators but commercially it has no future, if it had Peel would have kept it going.
Unless of course, you are going to buy it.....

[Emeraude]

Sheffield City Airport was NEVER going to be a success.

Internationally, EMA (actually 45 minutes by car off peak), MAN (just over an hour) and even Stansted (2.5 hours) provide better services than a runway just over a km long ever would.

British Airways, KLM and Sabena would not all have closed routes if they were profitable.

Remember that the airport was built because a certain Mr Budge wanted to extract coal from the site. Another Mr Budge (previously of Gamston Airport) was to build and operate the airport. Short term finance and profits were the motive, not providing a service for the people/taxpayers of Sheffield.

And who owns Sheffield now? Peel, who just happen to be the owners of Doncaster-Sheffield Robin Hood, a real airport with a real runway and potentially real international success. Does anyone seriously see them keeping Sheffield City open as anything other than a trading estate?

The campaign to keep Sheffield open is run by members of the local Conservative party (see the petition address, and Shefftory's name) who have been so resoundingly defeated in local elections that they have no right to speak for the people of the city. And it might be worth mentioning that one of the factors behind Sheffield's lamentable rail connections was the privatisation of the network by......the Conservatives.

[MichaelJP59]

I used the KLM Amsterdam service many times and it was certainly full.
Sheffield airport is the victim of politics and developer strategy more than any unprofitability. Peel Holdings own it and obviously favour DSA for development, even though that is a nightmare to get to by road or rail (the link road is now not going to be built).
Due to horrendous traffic bottlenecks at the western end of the A57/A628 to Manchester it can take well over an hour and a half to get to MAN at any reasonable time of day, even though its only 50 miles!
Peel won't sell the airport even if someone else wanted to buy it as in the long run it will be more valuable to them as commercial development land. This is an unfortunate state of affairs as it would be far more useful to the city to keep it open as an airport/GA facility. There is absolutely no shortage of other development land at that side of Sheffield.

[sheftory]

Sheffield City Airport

Sheffield City Airport is underthreat, and it will be a blow to the City of Sheffield and existing users if the Airport were to close or to be reduced in operational size.

If you wish to see the petition, add comments or read the case for the airport, please do take a look at our website in this last attempt to save a valuable asset for UK aviation:

http://www.sheffieldconservatives.org/section/101/

[helicopter-redeye]

Originally Posted by niknak

So, if it's a sure fire success, why did [B]ALL[B] the scheduled services cease to operate after a very short while?
I have used it and indeed have worked there.
Its a fantastic facilty for the present operators but commercially it has no future, if it had Peel would have kept it going.
Unless of course, you are going to buy it.....

I think you obviously miss the concealled political subtleties of the Peoples Republic, and also the people who missed out on the boom building years of the SDC.

Without transport links, business will keep passing the city by in favour of Manchester, Leeds and Nottingham.

Having a tourist airport at the end of a country lane in Doncastershire is not the same thing (but makes good money for the owners/ operators, no doubt. Pax is pax).

[gary4444]

SZD is a stich up which was never built in the first place for the public. No one uses it now except for GA. People need to stop dreaming and just let Peel get on with closing it to develop the business park further. Why waste even more taxpayer money to keep the trials and tribulation going.

[Groundloop]

Originally Posted by sheftory

in this last attempt to save a valuable asset for UK aviation:

[/URL]

Exactly, Gary. If it is such a valuable asset why does nobody use it!

[EGCA]

The development of Finningley renders EGSY un-necessary from a fixed-wing point of view, and particularly with the built-in flaw of an unextendable 3900ft runway instead of even 4200ft, (London City)-the difference being critical for several aircraft types.

What they should be trying to acheive is to ensure a decent rotary-wing site is retained there to serve Sheffield, and as gary says let Peel get on with developing most the site as a business park. The runway always was intended as the spine road of such a development, as far as I recall.

The "news" section of the airport website says it all really, or rather "doesn't" say it.... Not updated since January, when recent "celebrity" traffic included misc. Royal family members, Jordan, and a football club manager.

Sad, but needs to happen. GA will migrate somewhere else.

egca

[cessna l plate]

To be fair, the approach is rocky at best, the runway isn't extendable and all the other problems that Sheffield City has. However as a GA airfield it is better than most (not a portakabin in sight) and has the feel of a "real" airport without the problems you get flying from one.

The main use as I see it is for business traffic. Please remember that to make an airfield a success doesn't totally rely on the support of a major carrier. A lot of business is done in Sheffield, the UK's top nightclub is there for one reason alone,(Gatecrasher) coupled with the factories around and about there is a huge untapped market there. Not only the "bus-jet" fraternity, but also those that fly pipers and cessnas on business, and I know 2 or 3 of those guys personally.

As with any airfield there are pros and cons, but if has been said before, the place is in profit then let it be, with a little marketing in the right direction it could do a lot more. That said, the profits are probably not as valuable as the land to build on, and the pound calls the tune these days.

Summing up, there is a good future for EGSY if pointed in the right direction, but to take a reality check the bulldozers aren't that far away, as the ones with the money and control tend not to be sympathetic to GA.

And as for Peel, I am unsure if they own it or have sold it. If they own it then expect a silly name soon. If not, that is probably why they sold it, there isn't a silly name they can give it!!!!! Maybe "Sheffield closed down steelworks" or "Sheffield Stainless" You decide

[MichaelJP59]

I often hear the thing about the site being more valuable for business park development, but out of 6 shiny silver new office blocks built opposite the terminal building over a year ago, there only seem to be a couple rented to tenants, the rest lie empty and pointless.

There can't be much profit in that!

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by sheftory

Sheffield City Airport is underthreat, and it will be a blow to the City of Sheffield and existing users if the Airport were to close or to be reduced in operational size.

This post seems to have started from a political party campaign, and while I do not wish to introduce any partisan note, I must say that any political party that argues in this way can only bring themselves into disrepute.

Sheffield airport has been a complete waste of time. No airline has been able to sustain any service of any type there, nor will any new one be able to. It has had no scheduled services for some years now, it is not as if any further change to them is proposed, or if there are any existing users to be inconvenienced. It makes precisely zero contribution to the city economy.

All political parties should be able to recognise reality and shut the place down.

[helicopter-redeye]

Originally Posted by cessna l plate

.... there isn't a silly name they can give it!!!!! Maybe "Sheffield closed down steelworks" or "Sheffield Stainless" You decide

How about:-

Sheffield Peter Stringfellow International

Sheffield Brightside David Blunket Regional Airport

Sheffield "Sir Bob Kerslake" Regional Airport & Heliport

Tinsley Park Arthur Scargill Airport

or looking south to the Rother Valley

Sheffield On Sea Aerodrome & Aquaport


h-r