Let me save airport pleads multi-millionaire
A MULTI-millionaire bankrolling a legal fight to save Sheffield City Airport has revealed he is interested in buying the site as a going concern - and said its loss would be “madness”.
Steel magnate Andrew Cook, chairman of William Cook Casting Products, based off Sheffield Parkway, which last year recorded sales of almost £75 million, is behind the last-ditch bid to halt the closure by Sheffield City Airport Movement (SCAM).
Representatives of the group have held discussions with solicitors ahead of a possible court injunction to stop the runway being dug up after the airport shuts on April 30.
They are then hoping for a full court hearing to consider whether owner Peel Airports and Sheffield Council abided by conditions which stated the airport - which opened in 1997 - had to be kept operational for 10 years and “all reasonable efforts” had to be made to attract airlines.
Mr Cook said: “The reason I am doing this is because I think it borders on madness for a city the size of Sheffield to give up its airport without a fight.
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“I think it is an abomination that something that should be regarded as a valuable municipal facility should be thrown away.”
He said Sheffield City Airport would have a market among the region’s growing business sector because services at other nearby airports were unsuitable, with the exception of Manchester - which involves a lengthy journey. Peel claims there is not enough demand in the regional for scheduled flights to Europe using small planes to be financially viable.
But Mr Cook, who has used Sheffield City Airport with his own private plane, said: “Flights from Robin Hood Airport are useless for people like me who want to travel to western Europe, while there are precious few flights suitable for businesses from East Midlands or Leeds Bradford.
“I had to buy my own plane because I can’t get to the places I want to by scheduled flight.”
Mr Cook said “Can the airport be saved? I don’t know. But, however late in the day it is, I cannot stand by. There are a lot of businessmen who should be ashamed of themselves for letting this happen.
“I would prefer not to have to buy the airport but I wouldn’t rule it out if the terms were acceptable.”
Mr Cook admitted it was unlikely he could prevent the April 30 closure happening, with the loss of 15 jobs, but said the “main thing” was to preserve the infrastructure “so that there’s something to reopen”.
A Peel Airports spokesman said: “With operators such as Flybe now running services from Robin Hood Airport, which offers the flexibility to service a much greater range of destinations, it would not be viable to also operate the same or similar services from Sheffield as well.”