Officials ‘pleased’ with Doncaster Sheffield Airport consultation, but uncertainty still looms over lease
The airspace consultation has received responses from over 1,000 individuals, but uncertainty remains over the reopening’s future beyond September 2026.
Top officials behind the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) are said to be ‘very pleased’ over the high engagement with its ongoing consultation.
Fly Doncaster Ltd, the City of Doncaster Council-owned company set to operate a reopened DSA, has revealed ‘well over a thousand individuals’ have shared their views on proposed changes to the airspace around the airport.
Christian Foster, director of Fly Doncaster Ltd, said: “We’re very pleased to have gathered a variety of views around this ACP, helping us to further refine our proposals and seek valuable community feedback on our plans. This is a genuine chance for stakeholders and members of the public to have their say.
“Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue to meet with people in-person and online, to talk about this ACP and answer any questions they may have.”
The airspace proposals seek to have controlled airspace re-instated at DSA, introducing new arrival and departure routes for the cargo and passenger flights hoped to return.
Three of the five in-person consultation sessions have been and gone, helping generate 1,175 responses by the end of August 2026.
Sessions in Thorne and Doncaster city centre will take place in September 2026, with documents about the proposal available to be viewed at a number of sites across the city, including the Danum Gallery and Civic Offices.
The proposals are lodged with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and have passed the first two stages of the process.
A timeline published earlier in the year suggests the CAA expects to make a decision on DSA’s airspace in May 2027.
Doncaster Council has previously insisted that this would not affect their plans to have cargo flights taking off from DSA by the end of 2026, as “one or two” operators could fly from the site without controlled airspace.
The future of the reopening remains uncertain however, with the council not sharing any sign publicly that its lease renegotiation is with the airport landowners, Peel, has been completed.
Councillors were told in June 2026 that the reopening could “run out of money” by September 2026, with over £160m in funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority hanging on successful lease renegotiation.