The first full-service airport to open in the UK in over 50 years spreads its wings today.
The new £80 million Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield opens in the Midlands, between Doncaster and Sheffield on the site of the former RAF Finningley base, providing an annual £29 million boost to the South Yorkshire economy.
Owners Peel Airports Limited predict that the airport will cater for 2.3 million passengers within five years, and a total of 611 new jobs have already been created, with estimates of the figure rising to 7,000.
The 800-acre airport business park is already home to 100 businesses, ranging from IT firms to car maintenance companies. Plans call to expand the site by 60 acres.
Approximately 6 million people live within one hour's drive of the new airport, and business leaders hope the accompanying business park will herald regeneration to the region in job creation and expanded inward investment.
"This gateway presents all kind of exciting possibilities locally and for the wider region, which must capitalise on potential worldwide trading routes and be capable of supporting the international business and leisure travellers visiting from overseas," said David Ryall, managing director of Robin Hood Airport.
Low-cost flight operators RyanAir and Thomsonfly.com will operate flights to their European destinations, with half a dozen tour operators planning to widen their travel opportunities to 27 destinations from the airport.
Robin Hood Airport also now becomes the only airport outside London with a runway able to accommodate the new A380 Airbus, which took its maiden voyage yesterday.
Not everyone, however, is happy about Robin Hood's arrival.
Environmental charity Friends of the Earth have warned that the new airport will add to carbon dioxide emissions from the region and make it "impossible" for the government to meet its own carbon dioxide reduction targets to tackle climate change.
Aircraft noise will be the "true cost" for local communities near the airport, the organisation said.
