Peel Group shut Doncaster Sheffield Airport, 800 jobs gone, spurning public money

On 26 September 2022, Peel Group confirmed the closure of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, with operations winding down from the end of October. The firm said it had been engaging with politicians since a review into the airport's future began in July, that 'no tangible proposals' had been received on ownership or financial viability, and that its board had concluded it 'cannot responsibly accept public money for this highly uncertain process' — rejecting an offer by South Yorkshire politicians to help fund the airport while a buyer was sought.

Peel Airports Group chairman Robert Hough cited 'the fundamental and insufficient lack of current or prospective revenue streams, together with the airport's high operating costs'. Some 800 workers faced losing their jobs. GMB senior organiser Les Dobbs said members were 'devastated and angry' — angry that the offer of public money 'hasn't even been considered' — and said he believed Peel's intention had 'always been to shut the airport'; the union vowed to 'campaign to the bitter end'.

Travellers were stranded mid-plan: Leiah Marie Herring, who had booked a 10-person family trip to Benidorm around the airport, said she could not afford taxis to an airport two hours away. Craig Dowie, whose Crown Hotel near the airport drew more than 35% of its bedrooms from airport staff, said he had refurbished to meet cabin crew and pilot requirements, and accused Peel of 'twenty years of talking and hot air... and never really coming up with the goods'.

The airport had been sold for 20 years as the economic driver of the whole region, Dowie said, and TUI used it to fly customers across Europe and beyond. Manchester Airports Group offered guaranteed interviews to affected staff at East Midlands, London Stansted and Manchester, with jobs fairs to follow.

800 airport jobs; TUI and other routes gone; nearby businesses lost most of their trade; the region's 'economic driver' promise dead after 20 years.

Revenue never caught up with high operating costs, so the airport stayed dependent on its owner's patience.

No buyer emerged: in Peel's telling, 'no tangible proposals' addressed the viability problem, only the politics.

Refusing public bridging money ended the rescue option rather than test the 'highly uncertain process'.

A bet that never finds its revenue doesn't stay neutral: it keeps consuming a region's plans until someone pulls the plug. Viability reviews need honest deadlines, not 20 years of promises.

By May 2026 reopening was back on the local political agenda: BBC headlines showed Reform UK councillors dropping their opposition to an airport reopening loan while asking to see the new lease before it was agreed.