Travel operator reveals plans to expand flights from airport
A MAJOR travel operator has announced expansion plans for its operation at a Yorkshire airport.
Travel firm TUI said it will operate more routes from Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) and will have an extra aircraft based there.
Two new routes – Fuerteventura and Heraklion – will be added on top of the recently announced services to Mexico and Girona, along with additional days of operation to 10 destinations including to Ibiza, Larnaca, Reus and Malaga as well as Lanzarote, Turkey, Mallorca, Tenerife and Zante. It brings the total number of destinations offered by TUI to 31 destinations from Doncaster.
The new aircraft is expected to deliver an additional 136,000 extra seats to DSA, taking TUI to four aircraft based at the airport.
It is the second major commitment made by TUI to expand at DSA in as many years, with long haul routes to Florida and Cancun
and a new route to Girona in Spain added last year, offering in the region of 700,000 seats from the airport.
More than 1.4m passengers are expected to travel through DSA this financial year, representing its busiest year since opening in 2005 and more than doubling in size since 2013/14. The announcement follows the airport being named Best UK Airport by Which? Magazine for the third year in a row.
The chairman of DSA, Robert Hough, said: “The recent loss of Thomas Cook to the industry has many sad consequences including the withdrawal of more than 3.5m seats from the North of England, the majority from Manchester Airport.”
The MP for Don Valley, Caroline Flint, added: “This major commitment by TUI to Doncaster Sheffield Airport is very welcome and demonstrates the longterm confidence they have in the airport, having seen continued growth here over many years.”
The Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership’s chairman, James Muir, said the airport is a key asset for the region, while the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, added it was “further evidence of what we are putting in place to help drive Doncaster forwards and upwards is working”.