Commercial flights from airport unlikely until 2028

Doncaster Sheffield Airport closed in 2022 after its previous owners said it was no longer financially viable

Holidaymakers will not be jetting off from a reopened Doncaster Sheffield Airport until 2028, a regional mayor has said.

The airport closed in 2022 after its previous owners said it was no longer financially viable, but a new operator was secured earlier this year and it was previously earmarked to reopen in 2026.

But in a speech to the Doncaster Chamber on Tuesday, South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard said Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) was "unlikely to be at full operational capacity" - referring to commercial flights - for another three years.

"We will of course aim for that to happen sooner," he added.

City of Doncaster Council previously said that more than £100m of public money would be needed to reopen the airport and set up a new publicly-owned company called Fly Doncaster.

In April, the prime minister confirmed that £30m in funding could be released to support the project.

However, Coppard said the budget for the project was "not unlimited" and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority was yet to make a decision on whether to commit the funding.

South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard said a decision had not yet been reached on whether to fund reopening the airport

"At this point I still cannot say we will be reopening DSA and creating a world leading sustainable aviation hub at Gateway East," he said.

"There are still challenges for us to overcome."

Since its closure, South Yorkshire politicians and business groups have campaigned to reopen it as a keystone of wider development plans for the region.

Coppard said work was still ongoing to determine whether reopening the airport was more likely to be "a huge economic driver or a significant drain on public funds".

"There can of course be no guarantees either way, but the greater the scrutiny, the expertise, and the work we can bring to bear now, the greater the likelihood of getting that decision right," he said.

"I can say that if we are not able to take a positive decision to fund the reopening of our airport, it will not be for a lack of work, a lack of political will or a lack of analysis and insight."

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