‘Abandoned’ UK airport welcomes first large jet since it closed 4 years ago

The first large jet to land at an ‘abandoned’ UK airport since its closure in 2022 has just touched down.

The Boeing 727 paid a rare visit to Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA), its former home in the north of England earlier this week on April 28.

Staff said the arrival of the jet, which is kept on constant standby as a response aircraft to oil spills around the world, was an ‘amazing moment’ for aviation and for the community.

Boeing 727s are on-call 24/7, 365 days, and can be deployed anywhere in the world at short notice. 

2Excel Aviation, the company that owns the jet, has been using Doncaster for its smaller aircraft since December 2025. But this shows the potential for bigger jets to take off and land at the site.

Tourism expert Christian Petzold told Metro that it’s an important step towards international connections for South Yorkshire.

He said: ‘Currently it remains the largest city-region in Europe without access to a functioning airport.

‘When reopened, the airport will significantly reduce the reliance of passengers and businesses on airports like Manchester, Leeds Bradford and East Midlands.’

Travel times would be reduced from over 90 minutes down to approximately 30-40 minutes, he added.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport once served thousands of passengers each year, but has been closed since November 2022.

The last inbound flight touched down from Egypt on November 4, 2022, at 9:15pm. The final flight to leave the airport was November 5 at 12:15am, headed for Manchester.

The airport flew to 50 destinations in Europe, with its main operators being TUI and Wizz Air.

At the time, its owners, Peel Group, claimed it was no longer financially viable to keep it open.

That all changed in September, when £160,000,000 in funding was confirmed, in what Chancellor Rachel Reeves described as a ‘huge milestone’.

Freight flights are expected to resume around the end of 2027, but commercial flights for holidaymakers are not due to take off until winter 2028.

Justin Crabbe, CEO at Jettly, told Metro the 727 landing matters because it turns the reopening from an idea into something people can see.

He said: ‘It’s not the same as regular passenger service coming back, and I would not overstate it that way. But from an aviation standpoint, a wide body aircraft landing on the apron tells operators, businesses, and the local community that the airport is moving into something great.’

Christian Foster, director of airport operator FlyDoncaster Ltd, said the landing of the Boeing 727 this week marked a ‘great day’ in the plan to reopen the site.

He said: ‘It’s quite a moment seeing a jet land at the airport for the first time in almost four years.’

He added that the energy could be seen among the 50 flight staff on site.

Locals have been clear about what the reopening of the airport would mean to them.

Mayor Ros Jones said: ‘We know how important the airport is to local people and businesses so it is great to see an already established aviation business in our city being able to use the site again.

‘I have made reopening our beloved airport my number one priority.’

The South Yorkshire Airport City project could bring 5,000 new jobs and £6.6billion to the area, Doncaster Council said.

A controversial name

Doncaster Sheffield Airport was first opened as Finningley Airfield in 1915 and was a base for the Royal Flying Corps to intercept industrial cities of Northern England. 

The airfield was later used for training purposes in World War II and for nuclear-armed Vulcan bombers during the Cold War, before being decommissioned in 1995. 

Twenty years later, it reopened as a commercial airport under the name Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport, much to the confusion of the people 41 miles away in Nottingham. 

Robin Hood is often associated with Nottingham because the earliest ballads set his adventures in Sherwood Forest, and depict him fighting the Sheriff of Nottingham, a recurring antagonist in the legendary stories.

The inclusion of Hood’s name in Doncaster Airport was reportedly due to the original legends being set in Barnsdale Forest, an area of South Yorkshire that surrounded Doncaster and Pontefract. 

So controversial was the move, however, that a petition started to oppose it and was signed by over 10,000 people. In 2016, the airport rebranded to Doncaster Sheffield Airport. 

It comes as fresh life is breathed into several regional airports.

More regional airports are reopening

Further south in Kent, plans to revive an abandoned airport have moved a step closer to welcoming back planes to its runway.

Manston Airport has been dormant for over a decade, after its last scheduled flight left for Amsterdam on April 9, 2014.

Right now, Manston — also known as Kent International Airport — is being used as a lorry park, but since 2019, an investment firm has been trying to return it to its former glory.

RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) bought the site seven years ago for £16.5 million, then announced plans to reopen it.

While the initial aim was for Manston to be up and running by 2025, RSP have announced a new projected timeline of 2029, citing mounting construction costs and a turbulent financial marker as the reason for the delay.

Travellers will have to wait even longer to use it, as the hub will initially serve as a cargo airport. 

However, in 2022, Tony Freudmann, director of RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) which owns the airfield, told KentOnline that discussions were underway with Ryanair, easyJet and other airlines to base passenger planes there.

Right now the airport site looks closer to a ghost town, but it was once used by the Royal Air Force during the World Wars after it opened in 1918.

It was attacked and frequently targeted by German bombers during the Battle of Britain in World War Two.

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