Wesley Johnson/The Scotsman

The first flight from a new £80m international airport will take off for Spain today as the first full service airport in the UK for more than 50 years opens its doors.

Robin Hood Airport is built on the site of the former RAF Finningley airbase and its managers hope it will serve 2.3m passengers over five years, taking them to 33 destinations across 20 countries.

Its first flight, the 0915 to Palma, Majorca, will mark the opening of the first new airport in the UK since Stansted opened in 1966.

But Friends of the Earth warned the development would add to carbon dioxide emissions and blight the lives of local communities because of aircraft noise and traffic congestion.

Campaigner Richard Dyer said: “The true cost of cheap flights for local communities around Finningley will be blaring aircraft noise, disturbed nights and overcrowded roads.”

The new airport will offer flights to European destinations, mainly operated by Thomsonfly.com and Ryanair, with long-haul flights to Florida, Mexico and the Dominican Republic taking off next summer.

Its runway is just less than two miles (2891 metres) long, making it the only airport outside London potentially capable of handling the new A380 Airbus, which took off on its maiden flight from Toulouse on Wednesday.

David Ryall, the airport’s managing director, said: “As the airport opens an international gateway into the region will have been established.

“This gateway presents all kind of exciting possibilities locally and for the wider region which must capitalise on potential worldwide trading routes and be capable of supporting the international business and leisure travellers visiting from overseas.”

The Ministry of Defence declared the site, which was used as a front line Bomber Command base during World War Two and the Cold War, surplus to requirement in March, 1995 and the station flag was finally lowered in April, 1996.

But in June, 1999 it was bought by property development company Peel Holdings Limited, who also run Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Durham Tees Valley Airport.

The firm hopes the site, located seven miles south of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, will also handle 50,000 tonnes of freight within five years.

The 800-acre airport business park also supports around 100 companies, ranging from car maintenance to IT businesses, with a further 60 acre site planned which could house distribution centres and more hangar space.

An airport spokesperson said the development would boost South Yorkshire’s economy by £29 million annually, with 611 jobs already being created. It is estimated that this will rise to 7,000 jobs over the next five to ten years.