Ministers urged to fast-track Doncaster Sheffield Airport to take advantage of drone tech
The Good Growth Foundation has identified DSA as a regional airport which could become “a hub for drones, aerospace engineering, testing, advanced logistics and autonomous aviation”.
Government ministers should use existing powers to fast-track new airspace at Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA), a national think tank has said.
In a new report, The Good Growth Foundation (GGF) has identified DSA as a regional airport which could become “a hub for drones, aerospace engineering, testing, advanced logistics and autonomous aviation”.
However, current rules around airspace change proposals for airports, a process the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) does not expect to complete until May 2027 at DSA, can “take years to complete”, the GGF said.
The think tank has highlighted Kent’s Lydd Airport as a pilot for a new “Special Use Airspace model” focussing on allowing drones, autonomous aircraft and conventional aviation to operate safely together.
If successful, the ideas being trialled in Kent could be transferred to DSA, potentially bringing up to 800 direct jobs and £110million for the local economy.
Praful Nargund, director of the GGF, said: “Yorkshire has the infrastructure, skills and industrial heritage to play a leading role in the next generation of aviation. The government should back the model at Lydd and replicate it here to unlock high-skilled jobs and investment. This is what good growth in every postcode looks like.”
However, investors and businesses in this “third generation of flight” could be put off by the lengthy waits for airspace approval at regional airports, the think tank claims, urging the Government to use existing powers to speed-up airspace change proposals like Doncaster’s.
The GGF argued this mechanism could help airports develop new commercial roles in a range of modern sectors, such as drone inspection and software and airspace-management systems.