Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has pledged in her speech at Siemens Healthineers in Oxfordshire to work towards reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Reeves stated: “I can announce today that we will work with Doncaster Council and the Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, to support their efforts to recreate South Yorkshire Airport City as a thriving regional airport.”

In response to the statement, the three South Yorkshire Chambers voiced their gratitude for the support, but highlighted caution due to previous promises of government backing falling through.

The joint statement read: “The Chancellor may have caused an unnecessary amount of pain and consternation for businesses with her Autumn Budget, but this — along with all of the other announcements from yesterday’s speech — signals that there might be some mid-term gains on the horizon for the economy. That being said, many will understandably want to wait and see if Westminster can actually deliver on these warm words, given that we have been here before.

“Indeed, we heard similar pledges from some of the Chancellor’s predecessors in Government — including from previous Secretaries of State and even a former Prime Minister — only for the promised support to never materialise beyond, of course, the welcome confirmation of Investment Zone status here in South Yorkshire.

“We hope that this time around will be different, and that central Government will be able to match the entrepreneurialism and tenacity that our public sector partners in the local and mayoral combined authorities have demonstrated throughout this hard-fought campaign.”

A few days before this, Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones announced that an international airport operator had been secured for the airport’s reopening in Spring 2026, who will partner with FlyDoncaster, a council established body.

“This is set to be the largest single investment in Doncaster for more than a generation, hence the considerable level of due diligence and our rigorous and logical approach to accomplish this monumental challenge of saving and re-opening our airport,” said Jones. “This is a Team Doncaster and Team South Yorkshire effort, I would like to thank the residents and businesses of Doncaster for their patience, we are not over the line yet, but we are nearly there.”

The next steps of the reopening will include a budget proposal from Jones and approval from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, culminating on the 27 February at Full Council.

Photo:  GOV.UK

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