Sheffield City Airport

The closure was primarily due to economic reasons. The airport's short 1,211-meter (3,973 ft) runway severely limited the size of aircraft that could operate, restricting it to smaller turboprop and regional jet aircraft. This made it unattractive to the burgeoning low-cost carriers like Ryanair and EasyJet, which were key to regional airport growth at the time. The airport faced stiff competition from nearby, larger airports such as Manchester, Leeds Bradford, and East Midlands. The final blow was the development and opening of the nearby Doncaster Sheffield Airport (formerly RAF Finningley) in 2005, which had a much longer runway capable of handling larger jets. The airport's owner, Peel Airports (a division of The Peel Group), determined that redeveloping the valuable land into a high-tech business park offered a significantly greater economic return than continuing to operate a financially unviable airport.

The airport site has been completely redeveloped and no longer exists. The runway, terminal building, and all other aviation infrastructure were demolished. The site is now home to the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), a world-leading hub for advanced manufacturing, research, and technology. Major global companies such as Rolls-Royce, Boeing, and McLaren Automotive have significant facilities on the park. The University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is also a key tenant. The main road running through the park, 'Europa Link', follows the approximate path of the former runway.

Opened in 1997, Sheffield City Airport (Official ICAO: EGSY, IATA: SZD) was built to provide Sheffield, then the UK's largest city without an airport, with essential air links for its business community. It was constructed on a former industrial site in the Don Valley. The airport primarily handled business and commuter traffic with a focus on short-haul routes. Airlines such as KLM UK, Sabena, and British Airways (via franchise partner British Regional Airlines) operated services to key European hubs like Amsterdam and Brussels, as well as domestic destinations including London City, Dublin, Belfast, and Jersey. Due to its short runway, operations were limited to STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) capable aircraft, most commonly the ATR-42, ATR-72, Shorts 360, and the BAe 146 regional jet. At its peak, it handled over 75,000 passengers per year but struggled to achieve sustained growth. (Note: The ICAO code provided in the query, GB-1219, is a UK Visual Reference Point identifier for the area, not the airport's official ICAO code, which was EGSY).

There are zero prospects for the airport to reopen. The site has been fully and permanently redeveloped into the Advanced Manufacturing Park, which is now a critical and successful part of the regional economy. The land is occupied by high-value industrial and research facilities, and all aviation infrastructure has been removed. Any proposal to reopen would require the demolition of these facilities and the complete reconstruction of an airport, which is economically and logistically infeasible. While the newer Doncaster Sheffield Airport also closed in November 2022, local efforts are focused on reopening that facility, not on resurrecting the long-gone Sheffield City Airport.