Doncaster Sheffield Airport to run 44 new departures with major Flybe deal

Doncaster Sheffield Airport has today announced that Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, will base two Embraer Jet aircraft at the airport with services starting from the end of March 2016.

This announcement will see passenger numbers significantly increase with an additional 500,000 seats on offer from the Yorkshire Airport.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport will now benefit from Flybe delivering up to 44 new flight departures per week, a 70% rise in departures.

The news arrives just months before the airport becomes more accessible for passengers living within the Sheffield City Region, when journey times to the airport are reduced by 20 minutes following the opening of the £58m motorway link road (FARRRS).

Investment in the road has been delivered through both public and private sector funding and is set to open in early 2016, ahead of the new Flybe services commencing.

Steve Gill, managing director of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said: “This announcement is transformational for Sheffield City Region’s airport. We are truly delighted to be welcoming Flybe in this new long-term deal.

“A total of eight routes will be announced on Tuesday 10th November serving a mixture of business and leisure destinations to mainland Europe and beyond.

“The additional seats and other forecasted growth are expected to take passenger figures from 900,000 in 2015/16 to over 1.35 million in 2016/17, an increase of around 50% year on year.”

Saad Hammad, CEO, Flybe added: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement to begin enhancing connectivity for the people of Yorkshire from Doncaster Sheffield Airport. We look forward to welcoming all our new passengers on board next year with great value fares and a convenient, fast, reliable service to some very popular destinations as well providing them with opportunities for onward connections.”

James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, also commented: “We are a City Region of 2.1 million people and Sheffield is the UK’s fourth largest city. Connectivity to major European centres for trade and investment play a crucial role in the economic prosperity of the region.

“Investments such as this one will help to strongly position the Sheffield City Region as a key player in the Northern Powerhouse and will enable us to start to rebalance the UK economy through significant growth in the North.”

Last month Doncaster Sheffield Airport’s parent company, the Peel Group, announced its support for the Northern Powerhousewith a letter to Government urging public and private sector partners to work together. The call was for fresh dialogue between business, Government and other Northern-based partners. The Group have invested £150m developing the airport and more recently a further £12m contribution towards the infrastructure project to build the new link road to the airport.

Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones said: “This exciting development will create up to 60 direct jobs and many more indirectly.

“It was always anticipated that the FARRRS link road would make Doncaster Sheffield Airport a more attractive offering to airlines and we are delighted that this has already been realised.

“The new Flybe services will boost the number of passengers flying in and out of the region when the new road opens and that can only be good news for the local economy.”

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