The Chair welcomed Members to the sixteenth Annual General Meeting of Doncaster Sheffield Airport Consultative Committee. 

Apologies for absence were noted as above. 

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 28 January 2021 be agreed as a correct record. 

There were no matters arising from the Annual General Meeting held on 28 January 2021.

The Chair introduced his Annual Report, saying what a year 2021 was, for a variety of reasons. 

Last January, after a desperate year for travel, we commented that things surely wouldn’t be as bad again.  But a year on and we are in a similar position.

As one journalist put it "2021 was a formless blob of time".

The year started with a ban on foreign trips: in the summer we saw a brief reprieve: and the year ended in chaos with travellers enduring pointless, lengthy and expensive quarantine.

And, of course, a bad situation has been compounded as flights were cancelled because staff are testing positive for Covid 19.

Globally, airlines cancelled more than 6000 flights between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, which is normally the busiest time of the year.

Flights in and out of the UK slumped by 71 % in year.  Short haul flights were the most popular, particularly those to mainland Europe, while long- haul routes to the US increased a little as borders were reopened in November.

Although it’s not fashionable, the Chair said that he had some sympathy for the government as they faced a novel situation and, for want of other options, felt obliged to impose travel restrictions: only shortly thereafter to remove them in the face of public outcry.  They were damned if they did act and damned if they didn’t.

A recurrent theme in annual reports has been the ongoing debate about Air Passenger Duty (APD): whether to continue with, or abandon the tax, or to have a variable charge depending on the flight sector length.

The charge cannot be avoided and is easy to collect as the work is done by the airlines.  Despite regular pleas by airline leaders to scrap the tax, if only for a short period, the government has said that APD for long haul flights will increase this year in line with inflation.  The debate continues but some are now saying that it’s time to move on and accept that the government will not abolish the tax.

One other major issue to concentrate minds last year was the COP 26 Conference.  Climate change is in the limelight as never before and the Glasgow Declaration on Aviation, signed by 23 nations, marked an important stepping stone towards achieving the 2050 net zero commitment.

The Declaration, together with the Airport Operators Association Report on Decarbonisation, was discussed by the Noise Monitoring and Environmental Sub-Committee at its meeting in December. 

The Committee heard that DSA, as a newer airport was accredited to ISO 14001 standards, and was further along the net zero path than other airports. 

Indeed, while most are committed to achieve net-zero by 2050, DSA has undertaken to reach the target by 2030.

2021 saw the Committee achieve two milestones: a quarterly newsletter was produced for distribution in local free newspapers.  The articles provide a valuable opportunity to increase visibility of the ACC and its work, and is said to have been well  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

A report of the Committee Secretary was presented setting out the current membership of the Airport Consultative Committee and the Noise Monitoring and Environmental Sub-Committee. 

RESOLVED –That the Committee notes the current membership of the Airport Consultative Committee and Noise Monitoring and Environmental Sub-Committee. 

RESOLVED – That the following schedule of meetings be agreed:-

Airport Consultative Committee

Thursday 27 January 2022 (AGM and Ordinary)

Thursday 7 April 2022

Thursday 14 July 2022

Thursday 6 October 2022

Noise Monitoring and Environmental Sub-Committee

Thursday 24 March 2022

Thursday 23 June 2022

Thursday 22 September 2022

Thursday 1 December 2022

All meetings will commence at 10:00 am and Members notified of the meeting arrangements in advance of the meeting.