An airport formerly known as Robin Hood Airport just over the Nottinghamshire border could reopen as soon as next spring if plans move forward.
The City of Doncaster Council remains committed to reopening Doncaster Sheffield Airport by the spring of 2026, a spokesperson for Mayor Ros Jones has said.
It comes after South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard told the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) AGM he expects to make a decision on releasing gainshare funding for the project in “early September”.
The new timeline is another delay for the project, after the decision was initially estimated for the summer.
Despite the setbacks, the Doncaster Mayor’s plans to have flights in the air in the first half of 2026 remains in place.
“The plan remains to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport in Spring 2026,” a spokesperson for Mayor Jones said, “There of course remain a number of interdependencies.
“Once we have the Gainshare decision signed off in early September we can finalise our plans, including progressing with our Airspace, signing-up airlines and freight providers and to employ and train the hundreds of staff required to operate an airport.”
Should Oliver Coppard approve the funding in September 2025, it would leave eight months for the project to be ready by the end of spring in May 2026.
Mayor Jones welcomed what she called Mayor Coppard’s “commitment” to a decision in September and said the funding was crucial for the South Yorkshire Airport City project.
She said in a statement: “I must emphasise the importance of the Gainshare decision in early September and swift release of Gainshare funding alongside the £30m from Government that the Prime Minister announced in April.
“We are at a critical point, where we need this certainty of funding in order to continue our plans to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport.”
In his announcement to the SYMCA meeting, Oliver Coppard said he understood residents are getting frustrated with the lengthy decision process, but added: “we have to get it right – it’s £150m of taxpayers’ money”.
Opposition parties in Doncaster have slammed the new timeline as another “delay” in the airport project.
Conservative group leader Steve Cox said it was “looking more and more unlikely” that Mayor Jones would meet the spring 2026 target she had set, with Reform UK leader Guy Aston saying Labour was “dithering while Doncaster waits”.
