A SMALL airport in South Yorkshire once allowed passengers to travel to Europe – but lasted just over a decade.
Sheffield City Airport first opened in 1997, taking Brits to the likes of Belgium and the Netherlands.
First proposed in 1968, it finally opened in the 1990s as a gateway to Europe for those in South Yorkshire.
Passenger flights began in February 1998 with airlines KLM, Sabena, British Airways and Aer Arann.
Services took Brits to destinations like Belfast, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Jersey and London.
At its peak in 1999, the airport saw 75,000 passengers, but by 2002, this number had dropped to 13,000.
The runway at Sheffield City Airport was short meaning it couldn’t accommodate larger aircraft for long-haul flights.
At 1,211 metres in length, it’s smaller than even the runway at London City which is 1,508 metres.
At the time, it was also unable to take the planes that were used by the early low-cost airlines too which further limited the routes it could offer.
Sheffield City Airport officially closed in April 2008 after being deemed ‘not financially viable’.
The site has since been redeveloped with the terminal building and control tower being converted into offices.
The area that once was used to store planes is now a car park.
Recently, Sheffield City was even named one of the ‘world’s most fascinating abandoned airports’ by The Telegraph.
Another abandoned UK airport which came in joint place with Sheffield City is Doncaster-Sheffield which is actually set to reopen.
It closed down in 2022, but is currently undergoing huge upgrades and renovations to it can reopen as soon as next year.
Sun Travel previously spoke to the Director of FlyDoncaster who revealed that passenger planes could restart as soon as 2028.
Here are ’10 of the world’s most fascinating abandoned airports’…
1. Longhua Airport, Shanghai, China
2. Ellinikon Airport, Athens, Greece
3. Tegel, Schönefeld and Brand-Briesen airports, Berlin, Germany
4. Sheffield City and Doncaster-Sheffield airports, UK
5. Nicosia International Airport, Cyprus
6. Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany
7. Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon, Hong Kong
8. Ciudad Real Airport, Spain
9. Stapleton International Airport, Denver, USA
10. Mirabel Airport, Montreal, Canada