MAYOR'S LETTER TO SOUTH YORKSHIRE ON DONCASTER SHEFFIELD AIRPORT

Published 28 October 2026 at 11:08am

South Yorkshire's Mayor has shared the below open letter to the people of South Yorkshire on Doncaster Sheffield Airport:

Dear South Yorkshire,

When our airport was closed in 2022, that decision was greeted with dismay. Just as Doncaster had become a city, the most visible symbol of that status and ambition was ripped away. And despite our collective efforts at the time, we could do little about it.

But after four years of hard work, months of complex negotiations, and thanks to the confidence offered to us by this government through their support for devolution, today the future for our airport is a bright one again.    

Yesterday we took the decision to buy Doncaster Sheffield Airport and most of the surrounding land at Gateway East, finally bringing the site under public control and ownership.

To those who have always supported our plans to reopen DSA, I hope that decision will be a cause for celebration and huge optimism. Because our plans are as significant as they are bold: a thriving regional airport anchoring a world leading sustainable aviation and advanced manufacturing hub.   

But buying our airport is a big step, I know. We’ve taken that step because it’s a once in a generation opportunity to grow the economy of South Yorkshire, create thousands of jobs in the industries of the future, and connect us to the world.

There are people who have always doubted our plans and our approach, including people I respect who say the private sector couldn’t make it work, so we shouldn’t even try. And it’s true that no growth plan is risk free.

But the decision we took yesterday is more than just a commitment to buy DSA and the land around it, it is a commitment to turn the tide on 40 years of an economic and political strategy that says we are powerless in the face of private sector failure. We do have agency when we want things to change. Thanks to devolution we do now have the power to intervene when things go wrong, to truly create growth, jobs and opportunity in every postcode in South Yorkshire. Decline is neither inevitable nor insurmountable.

The path to the financial sustainability and success of DSA will not always be an easy one. There will be challenges along the way. But South Yorkshire is my home and I am determined to make sure we take every sensible step we can to make this project work for the benefit of all of us, to grow a bigger, better economy across Doncaster and all of South Yorkshire, so people growing up here today can truly stay near and go far. 

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Coppard   

South Yorkshire’s Mayor