South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has agreed a deal to bring Doncaster Sheffield Airport and the neighbouring Innovation Quarter employment land into public ownership, four years after the airport was closed.
Under the agreement, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority would buy the airport and the Innovation Quarter site from Peel Land. The deal still needs formal approval from the Combined Authority board on 27 October and from the board of Peel Land.
Freight services are planned to return from autumn 2027, with passenger flights back from spring 2028, subject to the regulatory and operational work needed to reopen the airport.
Oliver Coppard: 'Back in our hands'
"This is a deal that puts the future of DSA back in our hands and finally gives one of the biggest and best growth opportunities in South Yorkshire the platform for long-term success that it needs and deserves," Oliver Coppard said.
"Four years ago, we were told that our airport would be closing. But alongside Ros Jones, I said I would do anything I could to save DSA, and I meant it."
He said the agreement came after months of negotiations and with "the growing flexibility afforded to us by the government's devolution agenda", adding: "The airport and surrounding Innovation Quarter employment land will be owned and controlled by us, for us; the people of South Yorkshire."
"When the airport closed, almost everything was against us; the owners did not want to sell, we had no legal powers to intervene or stop the airport from closing, and no backing from the government at the time. Today, the future for DSA is bright."
Ros Jones: 'The people's airport'
Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said fully reopening the airport was her number one priority. "This is the right option for the airport, to get it into public ownership and reopened as soon as possible," she said. "This deal presents an amazing opportunity to get the people's airport open again."
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson welcomed the step, saying the Mayor was right that the airport was "the single biggest growth opportunity in South Yorkshire" and that it could "now be shaped and driven by local economic leadership".
The South Yorkshire Airport City plans aim to create a leading hub for sustainable aviation, advanced manufacturing and innovation, helping to create thousands of good jobs and attract private investment.
