Doncaster Sheffield Airport unveils ambitious growth plans
Doncaster Sheffield Airport has unveiled plans to massively grow passenger numbers by 2050 following the opening of new rail link.
Releasing its master plan this week, the airport said if an airport rail station connecting to the East Coast Mainline was open by 2024, it could handle 11.8 million passengers by 2050. The airport carried 1.25 million passengers in 2016.
It said the link would only require seven miles of new track and could feasibly be open in just five years’ time.
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The station would provide a direct rail link to London and Newcastle in under 90 minutes travel time and would also be connected to major regional centres such as Sheffield, Leeds and Hull.
It would mean up to 9 million people living within a 90-minute journey time would have access to the airport by public transport, an increase of 6.6 million.
The airport’s ‘vision’ sees the creation of a highly sophisticated airport city, or ‘Aerotropolis’, in the Sheffield City Region with the airport’s 1600-acre site, known as Aero Centre Yorkshire, becoming a central hub.
It said the expansion would benefit the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which is already set to grow to 1.5 million visitors, along with the conception of a new PGA golf course.
Its masterplan for 2018-2037 aims to see passenger numbers increase to 4.7 million a year, with the terminal doubling in size.
Robert Hough CBE, chairman of owners Peel Airports, said: "It is of national significance for aviation and the economy, particularly the North, and we want to see it realised as soon as possible. This is required beyond what Heathrow expansion will deliver, with a range of benefits for the North and East of the country."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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