A 125-year lease has been agreed in a “major step” towards to reviving flights from Doncaster Sheffield airport (DSA) following its closure 16 months ago for being financially unviable.
The deal with landowners Peel Group follows more than a year of “detailed and complex” negotiations, according to City of Doncaster Council.
The next stage in the process of reopening is the appointment of an operator to manage the airport.
The South Yorkshire Mayoral Authority last month said it would make £138 million available to the council to allow it to lease the site back from Peel.
Doncaster mayor Ros Jones said: “This is a significant day in our ambition to reopen the airport as the lease has been signed.
“I was determined to find a way to secure the future of aviation in Doncaster and this agreement helps us along the way to reopening our airport and seeing planes taking off once again.
“This is a major step in the reopening process. The next is appointing an operator and investor who will manage and develop the airport.
“This process is well underway and I am optimistic that I can announce a partnership later in the spring,” she disclosed.
“Let’s look forward to the future with an airport that will help boost the economic and growth fortunes of our city, South Yorkshire and the north.
“I would also like to thank my fellow South Yorkshire Leaders for backing the efforts of me and this council to save and reopen our airport. This airport is for the whole of South Yorkshire.”
The lease signing forms part of a South Yorkshire Airport City programme which Doncaster Council put in place dedicated to working towards reopening the airport.
The scheme covers all the technical, legal, procurement and financial work necessary to progress securing the site and preparing essential requirements ahead of a partnership with an operator.
“The programme is not the name of the airport which would be determined at a future date,” the council added.
South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard said: “There remain steps ahead on this journey, the next one being bringing in a private operator with the capability and experience to turn DSA into the thriving regional airport we know it can be. I am keen to see the council now secure that private sector operator to run the airport as swiftly as possible.
Once they have that agreement in place, the Mayoral Combined Authority stands ready to assess the Full Business Case (FBC) in order to release the funding to support this deal, and to get DSA flying again.
“I know people want us to move quickly and we will, but I have said from the start, we will only ever do things in a way that protects taxpayers while giving both DSA and South Yorkshire the brightest possible future.”
However, the revival of the airport faces opposition from environmentalists.
Leo Murray, co-director of climate charity Possible, said: “We can’t reopen airports in a climate crisis.
“The reality is that the only way to bring emissions from aviation in line with our climate targets is by taking fewer flights.
“The good news is that just 15% of us take 70% of all flights, so we just need those of us who take most flights to fly a bit less.
“Given half of us don’t even fly in any given year, the people of Doncaster would be much better served by investment in local transport links rather than an airport which will blight us all with climate chaos.”