Airport Guide

History of Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield

The Robin Hood Airport, somewhat unsurprisingly, owes its origins to military aviation, having been founded as Finningley Air Field at the start of the 20th century.

During the First World War, it was used as a base by the Royal Flying Military Corps from which to intercept German Zeppelins attacking the industrial cities of the north. During the 1939-45 conflict, however, the airport was used primarily for training purposes, serving as a finishing school for new crews of the larger planes in Bomber Command, with only a few combat missions leaving from Doncaster.

The Cold War saw the airport's importance rise as it was used as a base for nuclear-armed Vulcan bombers, though training once again became the priority in the 70s and 80s before it was decommissioned in 1995.

The low-cost flights revolution gave the airport a new lease of life and, spotting high passenger demand within the region, it was reopened with a new name in April 2005, with the first flight departing to Mallorca. Within a year it had handled over one million passengers and is now the 23rd largest airport in the whole of the UK.

Travelling to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield

Though its name suggests close links to Nottingham, Robin Hood Airport is in fact just six miles from Doncaster and 18 from Sheffield.

Close-by, therefore, is the M18 motorway, which offers quick and easy links to the rest of Yorkshire and then onto the rest of the UK. At present, however, there is no direct link road from the airport to the motorway, meaning passengers have to navigate several smaller roads, though one is planned for the next couple of years.

Plenty of trains arrive daily at Doncaster station, with London just over one-and-a-half hours away, and there are frequent shuttle buses taking passengers to and from the airport.

On a more local level, there are cheap and easy bus services to the nearby cities and towns, including Barnsley, Retford and Worksop.

Airline Flying from Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield

Currently, Thomsonfly dominates the departure boards, with the low-cost carrier offering regular flights to Alicante, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Salzburg and Tenerife. Ryanair also fly to Alicante in addition to their Dublin and Girona services. For those passengers looking for something other than a beach holiday, Wizzair has cheap services to Katowice, Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw, while Flybe goes to Belfast and Jersey.

Over the summer months the above services are complemented by charter flights, with a particular focus on the Iberian peninsular and Greece.