Political leaders in South Yorkshire have approved a £160m funding package to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority met yesterday, 9 September, and signed off on the £159.52m investment that will see commercial flights return to the region. 

All five board members voted unanimously in favour of the funding with South Yorkshire’s mayor Oliver Coppard describing the vote as a “historic decision”.

The approved funding is on top of the £16m already committed previously by the board.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport closed in November 2022, leaving South Yorkshire one of the largest UK city regions without an international aviation presence.

Since it closed, the mayors of South Yorkshire and Doncaster, along with local authority partners and central government have worked to explore the opportunity to return aviation to the region through a reopened airport with a viable future. 

South Yorkshire’s mayor Oliver Coppard, said: “We’re reopening DSA. Today, we’ve made a historic decision; to invest in the plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport, and to create a sustainable aviation and advanced manufacturing hub at Gateway East. 

“I’ve always said I wanted to reopen DSA, but we needed to know exactly what the plan looked like. That’s why we’ve taken the time and done the work. No plan of this size or scale is ever easy, or without risks, but today we’ve taken a bold step forward, backed by data, expertise, and a shared vision for the type of South Yorkshire we want to build, because DSA is a unique opportunity. 

“The plan we have backed today is about more than holiday flights or passenger numbers, it’s a long-term commitment to drive jobs, growth and opportunities in sustainable aviation, advanced manufacturing, freight, and even the defence sector, here in South Yorkshire.”

Mayor of City of Doncaster, Ros Jones, added: “This is an important day in our airport’s story. Today we have taken a huge step forward towards fully reopening our airport. Over the last three years this airport has been the number one question on the doorstep, in the pub and across our communities.

 “This project is not simply to reopen our airport for passenger flights, it’s about the wider economic impacts, creating a hub for aviation related industry, delivering jobs and opportunities for our residents and putting Doncaster back on the map.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, said the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport is a “huge milestone” for communities and business across South Yorkshire, delivering better connections, jobs and economic growth. 

In April, the government backed plans by South Yorkshire’s mayor to invest £30m of devolved funding into reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

The plans are forecasted to support 5,000 jobs, boost the economy by £5bn and provide wider benefits of £2bn by 2050. 

The government also confirmed it had established a working group with Doncaster Council and SYMCA to support local efforts to reopen the airport and explore how the project could unlock wider benefits in the region.

Now that a positive funding decision has been taken, significant passenger operations are not likely to commence until summer 2028 but with potential for limited passenger activity and cargo from winter 2027.