Airport sale deal reportedly close, claim sources

South Yorkshire’s mayoral authority is reportedly close to buying Doncaster Sheffield Airport from the Peel Group, shifting from a year of negotiations to lease the site. The change could give local authorities ownership of the airport and the company set up to run it, as they pursue its reopening after efforts to find a private operator failed.

Sources say most of the deal has been agreed, but no sale price or funding plan has been disclosed. The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority has held £160m for reopening the airport since September 2025, subject to conditions including renegotiating the lease. The airport closed in 2022 after Peel judged it commercially unviable; officials say negotiations continue and plan to update the authority’s board later this month.