VIDEO: Flybe announces eight new European destinations from Doncaster Airport
Doncaster Airport has hit the big time after Flybe announced eight new destinations to honeypots in Europe.
The site in Finningley is set buzz with activity after the regional carrier announced flights Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin, as well as tourist favourites Malaga, Alicante, Faro in Portugal, Newquay and Jersey.
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Hide AdDeals with Air France and KLM into Paris and Amsterdam will open up 300 destinations worldwide.
Airport bosses claim the new destinations will boost passengers numbers by 500,000-a-year and tick off the wishlists of business and leisure travellers who have been asking for cheap seat-only flights - not package holidays - for years.
They also said the Flybe deal catapults fast growing Doncaster - which will have 45 destinations and a projected 1.3m passengers - into the same league as rivals, East Midland and Leeds Bradford, with about 60 destinations and 3m passengers.
Phil Delaney, Flybe director of sales and distribution said the 44 new weekly departures, from March 2016, would give Sheffield City Region the service it deserved.
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Hide AdHe added: “It is one of the largest underserved regions in the UK and the people of Sheffield deserve better.”
Sheffield is the fourth largest city in the country, we know there is the demand.”
The new routes include Yorkshire’s only twice-daily flights to Paris and its only flights to Berlin and a quick hop to Newquay in Cornwall - versus a six-hour drive away.
Daily flights to Amsterdam will cost from £30 one way. Three times a week flights to Malaga and Alicante will cost from £50 and there will be daily flights to Jersey in the summer.
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Hide AdMr Delaney added: “The link road gives us confidence customers can easily access the airport.”
The £58m FARRRS route will cut journey times from central Sheffield to 25 minutes after it opens in February.
Two Flybe 118-set jets will be stationed at the airport, creating 60 jobs, he added.
Steve Gill, airport managing director, said it was the biggest announcement since the site opened in 2005.
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Hide AdHe added: “We have been working towards this for 10 years, we have been overwhelmed by the response.
“This is a statement of confidence in the airport and our region, I’m absolutely confident our partnership will work.
“It’s chicken and egg - unless we have something to offer it’s difficult for people to use us. Local people want to fly from their local airport.”