Doncaster Sheffield Airport named fastest growing in the North of England

Just after celebrating ten years since opening, Doncaster Sheffield Airport has been announced as the fastest growing airport in the North of England.

Official figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that the Yorkshire airport experienced a 9.1% increase in passengers over the last twelve months, to March 2015.

Furthermore, the results also indicate that passenger numbers at Doncaster Sheffield Airport place it as the fifth fastest growing airport in the UK.

Over the past year, a total of nine new routes have been introduced at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, including Bucharest, Riga, Zante and Dublin with onwards transatlantic connectivity to New York, Boston, Chicago and Toronto.

Steve Gill, managing director of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said: “Doncaster Sheffield Airport has recently celebrated its 10th birthday and we are pleased to be following up those celebrations with this fantastic news regarding passenger growth.

“This is great news and the figures also show that for the first quarter of 2015 our passenger figures were up by 30 percent.

“We are pleased to see this growth and our team is working to ensure that we have even more airlines and routes on board to bring more passenger traffic through the airport.”

Chris Harcombe, head of aviation development at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, added: “New routes to Zante, Kosice and Lubin all start this year as well as our recently launched Aer Lingus route to Dublin which offers onward connectivity to America and Canada.

“Looking ahead we are forecasting further strong growth over the next 12 months and have already announced two new routes to Heraklion and Larnaca for 2016 when passengers can enjoy the convenience of the new motorway link road cutting journey times to the airport by 15 minutes.

“The FARRRS link road is a £56 million road infrastructure project backed by public and private sector funding to transform the airports catchment area bringing another half a million people within a 30 minute drive of the airport.”

Cargo numbers for Doncaster Sheffield Airport are also up by 149% in the financial year as the airport continues to establish itself as one of the UK’s most freighter friendly airports.