The fight to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport has been given a £3.1m boost by South Yorkshire's mayoral combined authority.
It agreed to help fund a council bid to issue a compulsory purchase order to its owners who closed it in November claiming it was no longer financially viable.
The mayoral authority has also agreed to provide funding to help buy the airport if a court grants the council a compulsory purchase order for the site.
The funding will help build a case for the legal action which it is estimated could cost up to £6.25m.
Mayor Oliver Coppard said a CPO was 'our last, best hope to take back control' of the airport, which generated an estimated £108.4m for the region when it was operating.
He said the region's leaders were 'not going to stop until we've exhausted every option'.
'There are no easy or quick answers in this process. The CPO could take up to two years, and there are loads of hurdles in the way.
'But across South Yorkshire we are determined to do everything we can to bring DSA back into use, and to make it the thriving regional airport we know it can be.'
Sign up here to receive our free daily news and jobs bulletin.
