Airport confident of the future
Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) has continued to play a pivotal role in the UK despite much reduced travel numbers as it reports a 40% year on year increase in freight traffic.
Yesterday it was the destination for a Lufthansa flight from Germany packed with 80 tonnes of fruit and vegetables.
This one off flight was organised to counteract the the issues caused by the closure of Dover earlier this week due to the latest Covid-19 outbreak. However, this isn’t the first time the airport has supported the UK during a time of need. In May it partnered with Ideal Medical Solutions and Ligentia to bring in much needed PPE for frontline workers and reported that in the six weeks from 15 March it handled 5,000 tonnes of freight.
Flight which landed at DSA at 2pm yesterday ©Lufthansa
Yesterday’s flight was reportedly chartered by a company supplying Tesco, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Aldi UK, and said to include lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, strawberries and citrus fruits.
The airport has said that it is “currently experiencing a large volume of enquiries for flights”, although it added that this increase was actually more often linked to “related to anticipated Brexit congestion, rather than the current issues effecting cargo waiting to cross the Dover Ferry.”
Despite the challenges which a global pandemic has brought to the aviation sector, Doncaster Sheffield Airport has had a strong year. In August, Wizz Air – “Europe’s greenest airline”, announced plans to make the airport its second base of operations at the former RAF Finningley site.
Since then the airline has added more routes from the airport, most recently stating that from 2021 it will be adding flights to Dalaman in Turkey, the Bulgarian city of Bourgas, Spanish resort of Palma in Majorca and Crete to its schedule.
Chris Harcombe, recently appointed managing director at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, is confident that the sector will recovery in 2021, stating that the new routes announced by Wizz Air was “great news to end what has been an extremely challenging year for the aviation industry with the loss of 80% of passenger traffic”.
He added: “The partnership with Wizz Air goes from strength to strength and we look forward to adding more exciting destinations that passengers tell us they are keen to see added to our portfolio. We’ve seen a significant spike in bookings following recent Test and Release announcements and it is clear that there is pent up demand from passengers keen to get away for a much-needed break.”
