Doncaster Sheffield Airport is set to come under public ownership after the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) agreed a deal to buy the site and adjacent Innovation Quarter employment land from Peel.
The purchase covers more than 1,000 acres. SYMCA will become the freehold owner and landlord to the City of Doncaster Council lease.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said the purchase would provide "long-term control, certainty and flexibility" and help create thousands of jobs while attracting significant private investment.
"This deal means our future will be in our own hands again," Coppard said. "After months of negotiations and the growing flexibility afforded to us by the government's devolution agenda, we have come to an agreement for SYMCA to buy the airport and employment land from Peel."
Timeline to Reopening
Freight services are planned to return from autumn 2027, with passenger services returning in spring 2028, subject to the regulatory and operational work required to reopen the airport.
The airport closed in November 2022. City of Doncaster Council has been working to reopen it with public funds after attempts to find a private operator were unsuccessful.
Background
Originally Peel Land was going to lease the site, but over the last 12 months negotiations continued to explore options. The devolution of powers and funding to the mayor enabled Peel to reconsider an option that "was not commercially acceptable" to them in 2022, according to an SYMCA report.
Buying the airport from Peel means local authorities would own both Doncaster Sheffield Airport and Fly Doncaster Ltd, the arm's-length company set up by City of Doncaster Council to run the airport.
In September 2025, SYMCA conditionally agreed to provide an additional £160m of funding to support the South Yorkshire Airport City project.
What Happens Next
The proposals are subject to formal approval by the SYMCA board at a meeting on 27 October. They also require agreement from the board of Peel Land.
A detailed report with financial details will go before senior councillors next week. SYMCA officers noted the "project is not without risk to the taxpayer given the sums of public funding involved".
Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones said having the airport in public ownership was "the right option". "This is ambitious and the partnership with SYMCA builds on the strong foundations we have built up over the past four years," she said.
Dan Fell, chief executive of Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, said the deal would bring certainty for decades to come. "It signals the scale of the ambition for our region. It ensures our regional partners and the politicians have got real skin in the game to make this airport a success," he said.