Robin Hood Airport Blog

Doncaster's dreams come true

Thu, 05 May 2011 12:27:08 BST

An important link road between Doncaster Robin Hood Airport and the M18 motorway could enter the construction phase in summer 2012, according to local newspaper, the Star. The road, better known as the Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme, or FARRRS, is part of a larger campaign called the Gateway to Sheffield City Region (GSCR), which was recently awarded £18m from the government’s Regional Growth Fund.

“This is tremendous news for Doncaster”, explained Peter Dale, director of regeneration in Doncaster. “(The cash boost) demonstrates the confidence the government has in Doncaster to deliver such an important scheme." However, the evidence suggests otherwise: last April, Doncaster Council was described as “failing, dysfunctional, and paralysed” by the Audit Commission, and was eventually commandeered by government ministers. The £18m sum, which is double the grant traditionally awarded to successful candidates, is likely an attempt to bring Doncaster Council, and consequently, the town, back up to par with other settlements in Yorkshire.

Financial support for the FARRRS route way is, nevertheless, a huge boon for Doncaster, and for Robin Hood Airport. Proponents say that the road could create 14,000 jobs, more than half of the total expected to be created by the GSCR scheme, and inject £1bn into the local economy. FARRRS will also make the airport more accessible to travellers arriving from Sheffield and the port town of Goole.

Nigel Brewster, President of Doncaster’s Chambers of Commerce, has urged local businesses to “capitalise” on the construction of the FARRRS road, by trading with companies overseas. Mr. Brewster has implied that the arrival of new investors and – presumably – airlines would be crucial to the success of Robin Hood Airport.

The region around the airport will not be the only area in Yorkshire to benefit from the GSCR. The £18m grant will allow councillors to reclaim the land around Rossington Colliery, which closed in 2007, and construct a ‘Strategic Rail Freight Interchange’ near the airport.

Keepmoat Homes, namesake of Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium, has also been given £8m from the Regional Growth Fund to build, or refurbish, 1,500 homes in Hull.

Airport defies expectations, posts 5% growth

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:22:00 GMT

Last year was one of the worst on record for the aviation industry; few months were left unblemished by chaos. Fog delayed flights, volcanoes blackened European skies, and the recession ate airlines at an unprecedented pace. Then, just as chief executives thought the worst was over, snow began to fall on roads, roofs, and naked trees, forcing closures at the vast majority of UK airports.

Edinburgh Airport, for example, was shut down 8 times in just over two months, while Southampton Airport is alleged to have lost almost a quarter (22%) of its festive passengers due to snow and ice. Doomsayers would have been justified in predicting a shaky start to 2011, but officials at Doncaster’s Robin Hood Airport have revealed that the conditions facing the aviation industry are not as dismal as expected. The Yorkshire hub achieved growth of 5% during 2010, quite a feat for an airport that has historically struggled to stay open during clement conditions.

According to Civil Aviation Authority figures, Penzance Heliport and Scatsta Airport in the Shetlands also had a productive year, increasing annual traffic by 4.1% and 3.5% respectively. Leeds, Belfast City, Liverpool, and Bristol were the only other hubs in the UK to post growth in 2010. Plymouth Airport, on the other hand, lost almost 40% of its annual traffic, as beleaguered airline, Air Southwest, announced plans to downsize its operation at the Devon hub. Cardiff, Newquay, and Durham airports have also found themselves without enough fingers to count their losses on.

Mike Morton, chief at Robin Hood Airport, said that the traffic boost, equating to an extra 43,781 people overall, was “fantastic news” for the hub. Whether Doncaster can continue its run of good luck into 2011 is debatable, but the hub’s prospects have improved drastically since the addition of new routes to Faro, Portugal, and Tenerife in the Canary Islands, courtesy of budget airline, Ryanair. The airport claims that the two flights could lure an extra 60,000 annual travellers to the former RAF base.

Robin Hood Airport handled 37,513 passengers during December 2010 and 895,136 flyers over the whole year.

Anger at airport housing project

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:12:49 GMT

Bosses at Robin Hood Airport have been granted planning permission to construct 750 new homes and a business park on the hub’s doorstep, according to South Yorkshire newspaper, The Star. The news comes after Doncaster Council identified the development as a ‘key’ site for industry at a meeting on January 11 2011.

With the property market still foundering in the recession’s roiling sea, choosing to spend a fortune on the construction of new properties might seem a foolhardy venture, especially as Robin Hood’s new project will be built within a few miles of the airport, where demand for housing is often meagre, at best. However, airport bosses are convinced that the housing scheme will force developers to invest in the controversial FARRRS (Finningley and Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme) motorway link, as the former project cannot exist without the latter.

FARRRS, linking the airport to the M18 motorway, has been delayed and underfunded for almost as long as Doncaster Airport has been open to the public. Yet, both Doncaster Council and Peel Airports, the current owner of Robin Hood, consider the FARRRS road to be a vital part of the Yorkshire airport’s future, capable of generating around £1bn in additional income. Sadly, at least for Doncaster and Peel Airports, the government is not interested in the FARRRS project:

“The government has indicated that FARRRS will not be seen as a priority in its current spending review,” explained Andy Gutherson, assistant director of planning at Doncaster Council. The young airport, together with whatever investors it can pluck from the local area, must therefore plug an estimated £11m funding shortfall in the FARRRS project with money from its own pocket. Of course, anybody with an interest in South Yorkshire aviation (a niche subject), will know that Robin Hood Airport has a history of debt problems, making direct investment unlikely at present.

Whilst airport bosses have not commented on the total cost of Robin Hood’s housing project, or how much money can be squeezed from future residents, the project is being made a “priority” by Doncaster Council, as the absence of key transport links around the airport is causing problems for local businesses. “We struggle to get people to into work here,” said councillor, Yvonne Woodcock.

However, despite the council’s enthusiasm for the scheme, many local residents have been left confused and angry. Householders have accused Doncaster Council of "overriding" its promise to protect the rural environment, by setting a “precedent” for the construction of buildings on valuable green belt land. Equally, nearby schools, already over-subscribed with children, could face serious problems if subjected to an influx of new pupils.

On the flip side, the FARRRS road and the housing development could create thousands of new jobs, and make Doncaster Airport a target for foreign investors. There is a “real appetite” among business leaders to work with the South Yorkshire hub, according to Peel Airports’ Peter Nears.

Animals aplenty at Robin Hood

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:14:59 GMT

Thomson Airways and Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster, have been doing a brisk trade in ‘pet passports’ according to local newspaper The Star.

The airport was visited by almost 100 furry passengers in 2010, with Paphos in Cyprus proving to be the most popular holiday destination for domestic pets flying from South Yorkshire.

Robin Hood’s pet passport scheme is operated by Anglo European Express, a cargo firm based on the airport grounds. The company has a license to transport dogs, cats and ferrets that have been verified as disease-free by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, otherwise known as DEFRA.

Pets can travel to the UK’s closest neighbours – Spain, France, Italy, Germany and even Greenland – or somewhere exotic, such as Australia, Bahrain or the island nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

Whilst Rover and Tiddles might not appreciate the difference between a moonlit stroll down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris and a jaunt down a cracked pavement in the centre of Doncaster, the pet passport scheme helps take the heartache out of leaving a beloved family pet in kennels or, even worse, with the in-laws.

Thomson Airways claims that more than 1,600 animals were transported from six UK airports in 2010, including the 100 or so that departed from Robin Hood. The most common species of traveller was, of course, the dog, with 1,147 carried. Parrots, hawks, lemurs and nature’s slugabed, the tortoise, were also booked onto flights to Europe and beyond.

Despite the apparent popularity of pet passports, the scheme is likely to have limited appeal to holidaymakers, given the added expense of purchasing the license and the difficulty of finding pet-friendly hotels abroad. However, emigrating Brits and those lucky few with properties in warmer climes will pounce on the opportunity to throw a ball for their own disinterested feline on a white sandy beach.

For more information about pet passports, visit the DEFRA website or Robin Hood Airport's Animal Reception Centre.

'Lethal haul' seized at Doncaster

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:07:06 GMT

Whilst most travellers like to buy souvenirs, an increasing number of holidaymakers are choosing to eschew the traditional straw donkeys, snow globes, and miniature Eiffel Towers, to bring something a little more unusual home for their grandmother – illegal weapons.

Following on from a recent arrest at Bristol Airport in November, in which a 20-year-old man was captured trying to smuggle ten weapons through security, police at Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster, have revealed that more than 100 different weapons have been taken from travellers at the South Yorkshire hub in 2010.

The “lethal haul,” to quote local newspaper, The Star, included items such as samurai swords, CS (or ‘tear’) gas canisters, imitation guns, and knuckledusters. The majority of the items originated in seven European resorts served by Robin Hood: notably, Prague in the Czech Republic, the Balearic Island of Ibiza, and Dalaman, Turkey.

Police say that the weapons were seized as part of a major crackdown on smuggling at Doncaster Airport. In one arrest, earlier this year, a mother and her son were collared trying to take 14 weapons through security. The pair had recently disembarked a flight from Bourgas, Bulgaria.

Despite this article’s rather facetious opening paragraph, many smugglers do regard the weapons as souvenirs, or so they claim. Liam Dimond, for example, the man arrested at Bristol Airport in November, told police that the stun gun and throwing stars in his suitcase were decorations, destined for his bedroom wall.

Speaking about the weapons seized at Doncaster, Andy Lumb, boss at the UK Border Agency in Yorkshire, said that knives and guns are not “holiday trinkets or souvenirs,” noting the potential for “serious injury or even death” to the culprit or his or her enemies. “Let this crackdown be a warning to potential smugglers,” Lumb said.

Lithuania and Lanzarote from Doncaster

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:15:28 GMT

Robin Hood Airport has two more flights to sell to local ‘sun and sea’ enthusiasts, thanks to the efforts of Hungarian airline, WizzAir, and the UK’s third largest carrier, Thomson Airways. The pair already has a strong presence at the South Yorkshire hub, offering around thirty routes between them.

WizzAir, sporting livery that would make easyJet tremble, provides all of Robin Hood’s routes to Poland, which makes the carrier’s new flight to Lithuania’s capital city, Vilnius, seem like an innovation. The airline has claimed Vilnius International Airport as its latest continental base, and will connect the Lithuanian hub to Doncaster on April 17 2011.

“We are pleased to announce that Yorkshire’s first service to the Baltic States will be flying from Doncaster,” Robin Hood chief, Nick Smillie, said. Nick expects WizzAir’s new route to attract an extra 30,000 people a year to the airport.

Thomson, arguably the largest airline at Doncaster, offering 24 routes to holiday hotspots, will add a new route of its own in November 2010, to the Canary Island of Lanzarote. The flight will operate once a week for the duration of the winter season.

Lanzarote is one of nine routes to the Spanish mainland and islands offered by Thomson at Robin Hood Airport. The airline shares its domination of the local market with its sister company, First Choice, which offers package holidays to much the same locations. Nick Smillie noted that the Lanzarote route, the airport’s second, was added due to "great customer support and demand."

First Choice, purveyor of all sorts of holidays, has pounced on Thomson’s new route, by advertising a seven night stay at the Holiday Village near the idyllic Flamingo Beach, Lanzarote. The package is all-inclusive, and includes return flights to Doncaster Airport. Prices begin at £399 per person.