Last-ever passenger plane lands at UK airport as site closes for good

THE last-ever passenger plane has landed at an airport that is closing for good.

The Tui flight touched down after a six-hour journey from Hurghada, Egypt.

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It comes after the last flight took off from Doncaster Sheffield’s runway on Monday.

Another flight will be landed just after midnight, but this will have no passengers on board.

The UK airport confirmed last month that it would be “winding down” from October 31.

One holidaymaker told the BBC after the news broke: “The crew on our flight were on their penultimate flight and they were in tears.”

One couple were stunned to find their holiday was cancelled a day before they flew because the airport was shutting.

Peel Group, which owns the airport, said that it was no longer viable to operate due to a “lack of adequate forward revenues and high operating costs”.

However, passengers have slammed the decision, with one saying it was a “waste of a good runway”.

Hundreds of people marched to keep the airport open last month, following a petition campaigning to keep it open having more than 100,000 signatures.

Chairman of Peel Airports Group Robert Hough said: “We recognise that this will come as a great disappointment to many.

“The intractable problem remains the fundamental and insufficient lack of current or prospective revenue streams, together with the airport’s high operating costs.”

The closure will affect thousands of flights a year.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium said it was the 26th biggest airport in the UK, recording 4,609 flights in 2019.

It was also voted the best UK airport, according to Which?.

Despite having flights to popular destinations such as Tenerife and Lanzarote, the airport was hit hard when airline Wizz Air pulled out, leaving just TUI flights in operation.