Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Doncaster Sheffield Airport , formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, was an international airport in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, in operation between 2005 and 2022. The site lies south-east of the centre of Doncaster and east of Sheffield. It opened to passengers in 2005, operated by Peel Airports, a division of the Peel Group. The airport had a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allowed flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. It had 1.22 million passengers in 2018. The airport's owners said in 2022 that it was no longer commercially viable, and all operations ceased after the last inbound flight on 4 November 2022. RAF Finningley The airport was opened as Finningley Airfield in 1915. During the First World War, it was a base for the Royal Flying Corps to intercept German Zeppelins targeting industrial cities of Northern England. In the Second World War the airfield was primarily used for training, serving RAF Bomber Command crews; only a few combat missions took off from Finningley. It was a key facility for nuclear-armed Vulcan bombers in the Cold War before downgrade to training in the 1970s / 1980s and decommissioning by 1995. 1999 purchase by Peel. Following the end of scheduled services from Sheffield City Airport, former RAF Finningley was reopened as Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield (DSA) in April 2005. Low-cost flights and rising passenger demand made a new commercial airport feasible. The name of the airport was controversial and 11,000 people signed a petition to oppose it. The airport's first commercial flight flew to Palma de Mallorca, departing at 09:15 on 28 April 2005. The airport was projected to serve at least a million passengers during 2006. The actual figure for its first year was 899,000, making the airport the 23rd largest in the UK. By August 2007, 2.28 million passengers had transited. Long haul flights to North America began in summer 2007, with short-lived Flyglobespan routes to Hamilton, Ontario (for Toronto), and Thomsonfly to Orlando, Cancún and Puerto Plata.