I was at the business park on, well, business last week and decided to see if there was any activity at the airport.

I was quite surprised to see it looked like the terminal building had been totally converted to a reception for the business park.

Can anyone confirm this? Have the airport facillities been totally gutted from the terminal?

I don't understand what you mean here. Are you saying that the Airport isn't a Airport anymore?

The runway is there but the terminal building is the reception for a business centre. It;s as if they have done all they can to disguise the fact that it is (or was) an airport.

Has anyone seen any planes flying into or out of the airport lately?

http://www.sheffieldcityairport.com/


"leisure flights"

seems to be no commercial traffic from there - it died when manchester complained about its Amsterdam/schipol route (and then killed off the airport)

Really? They haven't said anything about the Liverpool - Amsterdam service by Easyjet and that is much closer to Manchester.

So what happens if/when Doncaster gets an 'International Airport'?

The runway at sheffield is 11metres too short to service "international" planes (737 and 747 size).

they had a "hopper" service, first to Schiphol, then to Brussels from where you could fly pretty much anywehere in the world

Liverpool probably got the sheffield run.

Its all about politics and votes and success.....

Although sheffield would be a fantastic airport location... (imagin easyjet or bmibaby hopper flights to the continent!!!! ... *sob*

:cry:

In the late '50s I was based at Finningley (RAF 616 Squadron, Worksop).
Why on earth this wasn't used as an international airport for this area is beyond me. Maybe no kickbacks for local councillors.

thats the one that is being turned into "Doncaster International"

4 years away apparently?

Originally posted by kinkyjon
The runway at sheffield is 11metres too short to service "international" planes (737 and 747 size).

they had a "hopper" service, first to Schiphol, then to Brussels from where you could fly pretty much anywehere in the world

Liverpool probably got the sheffield run.

Its all about politics and votes and success.....

Although sheffield would be a fantastic airport location... (imagin easyjet or bmibaby hopper flights to the continent!!!! ... *sob*

:cry:

It was a great service, used it myself on several occasions. It was run by KLM Air UK, the Liverpool one is run by Easyjet.

There is absolutely no reason why BAE 146s and Fokker F30's cannot fly from Sheffield to anywhere in mainland Europe.

I saw a plane take off from Sheffield airport last night so its still active.

yea its still open but not to charter/flights only private planes and that police copter,its a white elephant and before long that big car company near it will store cars on it,but im at a loss why they converted the building very smart yea ,millions of tax payers cash gone building that all from sheffield ppl .

If I am not mistaken, a brand new housing estate has been built very nearby and the prices are extremely high on this estate, which suggests to me that the airport is in the process of being shutdown. When Heathrow built the new runway house prices on nearby estates fell by up to 30%. The housing company that has put the ones up near Sheffield Airport must have insider knowledge that the airport is closing for it too take such a risk.

heathrow has a *slight* amount more planes taking off ;)

one every 20/30 seconds most of the day and half the amount at night i think

sheffield airport...once in a blue moon :lol:

Fair Point Doctor, but...

I read in the Telegraph a while back that Sheffield aiport was aiming to be the biggest private/business airport in the UK. Although the fact that I drive up and down the Parkway everyday and have still never seen a plane take-off or land waters down this theory.

ive seen a few land, never take off tho... which makes me wonder where all the planes go when they land :lol:

straight on the M1 down to East Midlands!!!

They are thinking of re-naming it ...Sheffield Aerodrome!

yes a big estate has gone up near it, but the houses are to the side of the runway (and theyre not THAT near) so planes would be taking off AWAY from the houses, not over them..

To be honest, there are more planes flying in and out of Netherthorpe Aerodrome that the city airport.

They need to either get some business back in (and not in the bloody business centre) or close it, because to outsiders who know about it (not very many) it is making Sheffield look like a laughing stock.

Originally posted by kinkyjon
yes a big estate has gone up near it, but the houses are to the side of the runway (and theyre not THAT near) so planes would be taking off AWAY from the houses, not over them..

The railway line will generate more noise than planes would!

The estate is roughly parallel to the airport, but both ends are used for taking off and landing, depending on wind conditions and time of day - pilots cannot land or take off into the sun.

I can say that half the companies in the airport terminal building (business centre) are aviation related, that the hangar at the airport is fully occupied and planning permission has just been granted for a second - and there is a waiting list for this.

The airport is busier now than it ever has been - almost 1000 aircraft movements in August (private aircraft, charters, flight training, helicopters, the Royal Flight - even two Apache helicopters landed there last week.)

Rumours of the airports demise are premature!

I notice that Sheffield Uni are working in partnership with Boeing for a few buildings on the new Waverley advanced manufacturing park at Catcliffe. Perhaps this can make use of the airport?

Originally posted by MrHelicopter
The airport is busier now than it ever has been - almost 1000 aircraft movements in August (private aircraft, charters, flight training, helicopters, the Royal Flight - even two Apache helicopters landed there last week.)


i have to agree there, ive seen loads of air traffic of late, including those apache helicoptors (with the anti-EMP "globes" on top as well :D )

Isn't there a conflict of interest between Finningley and Sheffield Airport for a major shareholder in each?

I can understand the logic of Sheffield Airport's owners wanting it to be a business airport only and not a regular commercial tourist one, but perhaps they should have done this right at the start, rather than having tourist flights and then losing them.

There are a lot of people going abroad who would really like to fly from Sheffield.

apache helicoptors?

Anyone know the reason as to why they are there?

I think the ownership changed. Peel Holdings are the driving force behind the development of Finningley Airport. I think they then bought 50% ownership of Sheffield. Why would they want to develop Sheffield when they are pushing so hard for Finningley?

Apache Helicopters only popped in because one of them had a fault - it was soon fixed and left an hour or so later. Sheffield happened to be the nearest airfield when the fault developed.

Originally posted by sheffix
I think the ownership changed. Peel Holdings are the driving force behind the development of Finningley Airport. I think they then bought 50% ownership of Sheffield. Why would they want to develop Sheffield when they are pushing so hard for Finningley?

Peel have also bought Barton Aerodrome - the world's oldest airport. What are they up to?

Buying airports, I think - they have also recently bought a big share at Teesside airport and, possibly, Blackpool?

IMHO The mothballing of Sheffield Airport as a commercial airport merits close investigation. Taxpayers money financed this project and we deserve to know why it has been allowed to be subjected to that most Sheffield of ailments, whitelephantisation. (as with NCPM).

As far as I know the airport was built as a commercial venture with private funding - partially the proceeds from the opencast mining previously on the site. Sheffield Council didn't put any money in, although there may have been some European money for site reclamation?

B.A. or is it R.A. Budge built it, didn't they? The intention before, during and when it was built was to be an airport for all, allowing flying travel throughout Europe right to the tip of Italy.