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*[[Flybe]] (Belfast-City)
*[[Flybe]] (Belfast-City)
*[[Flyglobespan]] (Toronto-Hamilton [''summer season only''])
*[[Flyglobespan]] (Toronto-Hamilton [''summer season only''])
*[[Ryanair]] (Dublin, Girona, Pisa)
*[[Ryanair]] (Alicante [Starts November 2007], Dublin, Girona, Pisa)
*[[Thomsonfly]] (Alicante, Amsterdam, Faro, Geneva [starts Winter 2007], Jersey, Málaga, Palma, Pisa, Prague, Salzburg)
*[[Thomsonfly]] (Alicante, Amsterdam, Faro, Geneva [starts Winter 2007], Jersey, Málaga, Palma, Pisa, Prague, Salzburg)
*[[Wizzair]] (Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznan [Starts January 2008]), Wroclaw [Starts February 2008]
*[[Wizzair]] (Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznan [Starts January 2008]), Wroclaw [Starts February 2008]

Revision as of 11:38, 9 August 2007

Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield
File:DSA logo.gif

Doncaster Sheffield Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorDoncaster Sheffield Airport Limited / Peel Airports
ServesSouth Yorkshire
Elevation AMSL55 ft / 17 m
Coordinates53°28′29″N 001°00′16″W / 53.47472°N 1.00444°W / 53.47472; -1.00444
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
02/20 9,491 2,893 Asphalt

Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield (IATA: DSA, ICAO: EGCN) is an international airport located at the former RAF Finningley airbase in Finningley, South Yorkshire, England. The airport lies 6 nautical miles southeast of Doncaster and eighteen miles east of Sheffield. The Airport principally serves the metropolitan counties of South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire moreover due to its key location, a population of more than six million potential customers can access the airport within a 60 minute drive.

History

Main article: RAF Finningley

The airport's opening was marked by the first commercial flight, destined for Palma in Majorca, which departed exactly on time at 0915 on April 28, 2005. The Captain of the first flight from Robin Hood Airport was Paul Rafferty of ThomsonflyTemplate:Fn. The airport expected to see at least one million passengers during 2006. Three months after opening the airport had handled 300,000 passengers, by December 2005 the figure rose to 500,000 and within 60 weeks after opening, the airport had cumulatively handled over 1 million passengers. The figure for calendar year 2006 was 899,000, putting the airport in 23rd position in the UK.

Today

Doncaster Sheffield Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P876) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

The majority of flights from the airport are operated by Thomsonfly, with a few flights operated by Thomas Cook, Pegasus, Air Europa, BH Air, Wizzair, Flybe, Flyglobespan, Onur Air and Ryanair. On 28 March 2006 Ryanair announced an expansion of their services from Doncaster, with additional flights to Pisa and Girona. On 26 June 2006, Flybe announced it was establishing a twice daily service from Doncaster to Belfast City Airport from October 2006. In September 2006, Flyglobespan announced that from Summer 2007, weekly flights from Doncaster would commence to Toronto, Canada, this being the first scheduled long-haul destination served from Doncaster. It was also announced at a Dubai conference on 18 September 2006 that Pakistani Airline Shaheen Air International will be flying from Doncaster Sheffield to Islamabad and Toronto from Summer 2007. Also Wizzair have announced they are to start a four times weekly service to Gdansk and increase the frequency of the Katowice route to four times weekly both from July 2007. Late November Goldtrail Holidays announced that they would be flying to Dalaman from the Airport Summer 2007 using Onur Air. Wizz Air have also announce (June 07) that they are to fly twice weekly to Poznan from 31 January 2008]]. They also later announced on 3 July that they will be flying a twice weekly service to Wroclaw from February 2008.

Facilities

The airport's runway has a length of 2,891 metres (9,485 feet) and a width of 60 metres (197 feet), making it longer and wider than those at many other airports in northern Britain. This capability may make the airport attractive to operators of wide-bodied, long-haul or older cargo-carrying aircraft. The reason the Airport has such a long runway stems from its history as a former long-range nuclear bomber base (see RAF Finningley). The Airport currently has a single runway designated 02/20 and there is significant room for further passenger and cargo capacity expansion when the market requires. Operators Peel Holdings also own Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Durham Tees Valley Airport.

Part of the Airport site is being developed into a Business and Technology Park which could potentially be linked with the M18 motorway via a link road at Junction 3. This in itself might attract further investment into the Region.

Due to open in late winter 2007 is a Ramada Encore chain hotel, which will have 150 bed capacity. Work is also progressing on a new 62 acre business park across from the terminal, which will link to a new access road into the airport via nearby Hurst Lane (which is due to open in winter 2007).

Getting to Robin Hood Airport

The Airport is located close to the M18 Motorway, but with no direct link road. Also nearby are the A1(M) Motorway, M62 motorway, M1 motorway roads. A direct motorway road link from the M18 junction 3 to the airport is planned and is expected to open by 2010Template:Fn. There is also a connection from Junction 34 of the A1(M) Motorway. The Airport has 2,500 car parking spaces.

Doncaster station is a major UK railway station and is served by Northern Rail, Virgin Trains, GNER, TransPennine Express, Central Trains, Midland Mainline and Hull Trains. Doncaster is 1 Hour 35 Mins from London Kings Cross or 20 Mins from Sheffield Station (using direct services). From Doncaster Station several direct bus services transport passengers to the Airport.

In addition, the airport lies alongside the Doncaster to Lincoln railway line, and plans for a station at Finningley to replace that closed in 1961 have been submitted for local planning permission.

Public transport is by hourly bus from Doncaster town centre. At present the airport is served by various airport bus links from all major local bus companies. These include:

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled flights

  • Flybe (Belfast-City)
  • Flyglobespan (Toronto-Hamilton [summer season only])
  • Ryanair (Alicante [Starts November 2007], Dublin, Girona, Pisa)
  • Thomsonfly (Alicante, Amsterdam, Faro, Geneva [starts Winter 2007], Jersey, Málaga, Palma, Pisa, Prague, Salzburg)
  • Wizzair (Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznan [Starts January 2008]), Wroclaw [Starts February 2008]

Charter flights

Summer destinations

  • Air Europa (Las Palmas)
  • BH Air (Bourgas, Varna)
  • Nouvelair (Monastir)
  • Onur Air (Bodrum)
  • Pegasus Airlines (Dalaman)
  • Thomsonfly (Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancun, Corfu, Crete, Dalaman, Orlando-Sanford, Girona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Larnaca, Malta, Menorca, Naples, Paphos, Pisa, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Tenerife-South, Verona, Zakynthos)

Winter destinations

  • Thomsonfly (Alicante, Faro, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote [Starts November 2007], Malaga, Paphos, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife South)

Thomsonfly Also fly on a weekly basis to 4 Ski Destinations:

  • Plovdiv (Saturday)
  • Salzburg (Saturday)
  • Chambery (Saturday) New for 2007/8
  • Turin (Sunday)
  • Geneva (operating 4 times weekly - combined with scheduled flight) New for 2007/8

The Airport also has various Fly-Cruise Departures to:

  • Barbados
  • Montego Bay (Jamaica)
  • Fort Lauderdale (U.S.A.)
  • New Orleans (U.S.A.)

The airport has an email address where new routes can be suggested or requested. This can be found here.

Private Business Jets

There are a number of private business jets based at the airport. Owners include golfers Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke who share a jet and the owners of Meadowhall. Currently Sovereign Air are the sole business jet on demand operator based at the airport.

Cargo flights

The airport has vast room for the accommodation of cargo flights and is in an ideal location in regards to the motorway network. There is a high amount of space to each side of the airport which is available for development and a wealth of infrastructure which is still in place from RAF Finningley. As of yet the airport does not have a dedicated freight forwarder on site which is something that airlines do not tend to commit to airports without. There has been high interest so far from Fedex with regards to setting up regular freight flights but the airport continues to handle one off ad hoc freight flights only using such aircraft as Boeing 747 and Antonov 124.

The airport in the media

During its first few years of operation, Robin Hood Airport has featured a lot in the media. Numerous articles on its status as the UK's newest international airport have seen it become part of the debate into air tourism and environmental issues. On 24 January 2007, the airport featured in the BBC Two documentary Should I Really Give Up Flying?, with Doncaster celebrity Brian Blessed fronting local opinions on the issue. Robin Hood Airport has also been a filming location for some dramatic scenes featured in Emmerdale.

The airport name

The name is now often simply referred to on travel websites and on other literature as Doncaster/Sheffield Airport or Doncaster Airport, even though the official name is Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.

The Airport was named 'Robin Hood' based on the following local information:-

  1. The original Robin Hood legends are set in Barnsdale Forest, the area of South Yorkshire which surrounded Doncaster and Pontefract.
  2. This legend is reinforced by the fact that the village pub in nearby Hatfield Woodhouse has always been known as the Robin Hood and Little John
  3. The Airport has a historical reference to Nottinghamshire (as the parish of Finningley was, until 1974 and the Local Government Act 1972, administered as part of Nottinghamshire) and still resides in the boundary of the Diocese of Nottingham. [2]
  4. The Runway extension (completed in 1957) to accommodate Vulcan bombers, extended the airfield into the county of Nottinghamshire.
  5. Some later Robin Hood legends - and the popular 20th century books, fims and TV programmes are set in Sherwood Forest.[3]
  6. The Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster is closer to what is left of Sherwood Forest than the City of Nottingham is. [4]
  7. The forests of Sherwood and Barnsdale merged in this area of Yorkshire. [5]
  8. The name would provide an identity which would raise a lot of attention (if a little controversy) for the Airport and create a marketing opportunity.[6]

The Airport name has caused media controversy as Robin Hood has not during the 20th century been regularly associated with Doncaster; despite the Barnsdale legends, and the references to Robin Hood in pubnames such as the aforementioned Robin Hood and Little John. Many citizens of Nottingham feel that Robin Hood should be the icon of their City alone (despite the fact that it was the Sheriff that came from Nottingham). The reference to Sheffield in the name also caused media controversy as the airport lies some 18 miles from the city of Sheffield, it does in fact lie within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster Names that were then suggested by people of the borough and surrounding areas included:

  • Doncaster International Airport
  • Sheffield-Doncaster Airport
  • South Yorkshire International Airport
  • Finningley International Airport

It is perhaps worth noting that feeling ran so high locally that only visitors refer to the airport as 'Robin Hood' - locals refer to it only as Finningley, (the preferred choice of most locals and also of many who served there during WWII and after, including many Commonwealth and US ex-service personnel) or plain Doncaster Airport. Tell a taxi driver to take you to Finningley and he'll know exactly where you want to be - say Robin Hood Airport and he may just give you a blank look.

Notes

References

  1. ^ "New improved links with the local Lynx" (doc). Stagecoach East Midlands. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood_in_popular_culture
  4. ^ [http://mapit2.nottscc.gov.uk/jsp/simplemap/default.htm?circle=400&postcode=NG219HN&label=Sherwood%20Forest%20Country%20Park&zoomfactor=4
  5. ^ - Reference to Barnsdale Forest with Map also showing Merger of Forests in this area
  6. ^ - Evidence of Controversy caused by Airport Name and Marketing opportunity
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