luddendenturk

Easyjet were testing the market, and the market has proved too weak for further easyjet expansion.

Ignoring the flight times to Amsterdam, average loads on the flights have been very poor, only picking up during the July and August school holiday time.

It must be pointed out that the other services aimed at business passengers have'nt pulled up any trees. FlyBE run a service to Belfast, when this started it was twice daily to cater for business flyers, this quickly reduced to 6xweekly when it was realised that business' were not using Doncaster. The Dublin route will be discontinued after October, it has been running since march with Aer Arran (Aer Lingus Franchise) and the airports only 'legacy' carrier with hub connections. There has been an average of 20 people on each flight.

There is a fundamental problem with Doncaster airport, these problems were highlighted at the public enquiry by experts but were ignored due to political reasons, dont be fooled by the spin they put on this.

I live right by Donny airport, I even worked there for a while and I still reckon it were a cracking idea to have an airport on the old Finningly base. I have flown from there quite a few times until the prices got daft and the flight times changed to really unsociable ones..oh and they pulled the flights we were most interested in. I think it has been good for the area and it is a shame that it hasn't attracted what it hoped to attract. That said, the car parks always seem rammed when we go past so they must be doing summat right!

I hope things do pick up and some flights can be re-instated ( eg: Malta!!)

Has donny got an outside smoking area airside? I remember back just after the ban they had the bus shelter type thing down the stairs where a couple of gates were but unsure as to it now and thought they may have replaced it with a cage type thing.

Immediate answers if you can folks as we fly tonight.

It is my understanding that the only easyJet plane that was operating from Doncaster, was actually based at Liverpool, together with the crew etc.

Therefore, each day the plane had to fly into Doncaster before picking up it's first customers, this also means that none of the flights were leaving Doncaster early enough in the day to attract the lucrative business market.

Actually no. The aircraft is based overnight at Doncaster as it would be totally daft to send an empty A319 on a 15 minute flight across the Pennines every morning. The actual crew are based at LPL and as such there are no Doncaster based Cabin Crew or Flight Deck. They change over on a regular basis and stay in a nearby hotel on down time.

The flight's will operate untill the 4th of January and are of course still bookable. Flight's after this date were never available for sale anyway and so no passengers will be affected.

Has donny got an outside smoking area airside?

Simple answer no, though sorry i guess this answer will be a little late for you now.

There is a fundamental problem with Doncaster airport, these problems were highlighted at the public enquiry by experts but were ignored due to political reasons, dont be fooled by the spin they put on this.

I just wish someone would sort out the problems, it's a crying shame when you see something going down the pan every day and no beggar has the gonads to tackle the problems.

A while back I read on another forum, that the airport is bleeding money every minute now and they lose about £15 for every passenger that walks through the doors, but I honestly believe that the clowns in the town hall are as much to blame for not giving any business concessions right from the day it opened to entice the businesses in.

I've just come back from Spain via EMA and I booked the flights for next July this morning"¦.Doncaster to Malaga 2 flights a week and one flight leaving on Friday's at around 5 pm"¦well that's the first day of the holiday ‘wasted'"¦.so Bmi Baby here we come again at a decent hour and less money.

Do I like travelling down the mad M1, when I can drive to Donny in 25 mins depending if I go the main road way or via the lanes, Conisborough, Malty Bawtry..... no, but what else is the alternative.?
TBH, I'm beginning to wish it had never been built because it's about as useful to the locals as a chocolate fireguard, and it flippin makes me angry when it's there on my doorstep and I can't use it....and it's not because I and MANY others don't want to use it.!...for crying out loud, we Do.!

What are they getting in a period of 24 hours.? on average between 7 and 10 flights a day.....IMO: it will never survive in a million years on that traffic.

Sanji

Sanji, a large part of the problem is not the catchment area, but more they way the airlines see the catchment area. Like it or not, EMA has a far larger catchment area, which includes Nottingham, Leicester, Derby and Sheffield and airlines know this, hence not being willing to replicate the same services from Doncaster. Manchester is also quite close to Sheffield and and offers more choice like EMA. Its a catch 22 situation. Of course there must be more problems, such as why Easyjet didnt do too well despite a vast advertising campaign and their already big name in the UK and Europe.

The airport has been losing alot of money. To put some perspective on it, Liverpools losses are growing, despite reporting positive growth in passenger numbers, so i dread to think how much DSA is losing. I know they came out a few years ago and said it was a million pounds a month!

It is difficult to see where any growth could come from in the future. Mike Morton (airport MD) says that they are in talks with a new airline (to DSA or new start up is unsure) and are confident there will be some new routes soon. Great if they can get it but i always remain skeptical untill i actually see any official press release from the airline in question. With Easyjet (a market leader) not doing so well from there, it does pose the question of who would be able to make seat only routes work.

New flight from Yorkshire to Lithuania

Wizz Air will launch flights from Doncaster Sheffield Airport to Vilnius in Lithuania next April.

The twice weekly service will operate on Wednesdays and Sundays departing from Doncaster at 20.25 and arriving in Vilnius at 00:55.

Aviation sales director Nick Smillie said: "We are pleased to announce that Yorkshire's first service to the Baltic States will be flying from Doncaster.

"This new route will bring a further 30,000 passengers a year through the doors at Doncaster Sheffield Airport."

Vilnius will be the sixth Wizz Air destination from the airport, It's second largest UK base.

"We expect this additional route to increase Wizz Air's total passenger numbers from the airport to 230,000 a year," added Smillie.

Wizz Air also flies from Doncaster to Katowice, Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland.

Flights to Vilnius start on April 17.

With permission from Travelmole

I have just done a price check on Airport Parking at 'Donny' and there are 2 different prices for 8 days:

£31.49
£34.99

Do they have 2 car parks?

There is the standard 'large' car park directly across from the terminal building or there is what is known as the 'premium' car park. This is a smaller fenced off car park directly to the side of the terminal building. It is essentially the same distance walking to the terminal as the standard car park - however this obviously depends where you park in the standard car park as it is very big. I guess the price of £34.99 is for the premium car park access. If you do happen to book the premium car park however, be aware that there will be two sets of barriers to procede to and has its own dedicated entrance/exit route away from the standard car park. Come to think of it, it could be worth the extra £3 if this is what the option is for.

Hope this helps.

Some breaking news about Donny.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-13046675

Sanji x

Does anyone know if ther is an escape lounge at doncaster airport? Please

Does anyone know if ther is an escape lounge at doncaster airport? Please

No there is no lounge at Doncaster Airport.

I flew from Doncaster on the 28th and returned yesterday afternoon, I'd 'dropped' on a package holiday withThomson with good flight times and at a price I (for once) was willing to pay for the convenience of using my local airport.
Based on this latest visit to the airport, I would say the situation at Doncaster is now dire, it may pick up slightly with the summer schedules, but there were only 4 flights departing in a period of 24 hours and after our flight had departed at 6-45 am, there was nothing coming in or taking off until after 2 pm.

Normally my taxi driver waits outside the airport perimeter until I phone him once we are through and having a ciggy outside, and he can pick us up and get out before incurring any charges, but he had another booking and whilst he took us to the airport, I had to get my DIL to collect us yesterday.

She came into the carpark for 20 mins and was charged £6 to get out....daylight robbery.
All the staff seem to be trying to justify their jobs and very keen to play by the rules to the letter.

Sanji x

Is there anywhere to eat when you go through to departures? Thanks

Yes, a Wetherspoons

flew from Donny last week for the first time in a couple of years and I have to say how disappointed I am at the now lack of facilities....all the previous places seem to have disappeared and have not really been replaced. This leaves you very limited options. Even the Costa has gone.

I am guessing they have been driven out by the sky high rent prices and the now small number of flights actually taking off from there. When I worked there, we have many flights a day going...a constant steady stream if you will..and now these flights have disappeared so obviously there are less people passing through.and therefore less people spending money. What little there is is vastly overpriced and not very good value.

Such a shame.