DTV (Teesside) Airport up for sale!

[OMGitsDAVE]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-16178852

Durham Tees Valley Airport has been put up for sale.

Peel Airports Limited has announced it is to sell its majority shareholding that it holds in the airport, based in County Durham.

It said the airport "no longer fits within the company's strategic plans for its portfolio of airports".

Peel Airports owns 75% of Durham Tees Valley Airport. Six local authorities have owned the remaining 25% since 2003.

'Key thing'
The airport will continue to operate as normal during this process for passengers due to travel over the coming weeks and employees based there.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "The key thing about the future of Durham Tees Valley Airport, which is a vital airport, is not necessarily who owns it, but is it being invested in? Is it being expanded? Is it working well? That is the key question."

The Conservative MP for Stockton South James Wharton, who has campaigned to see the airport's future secured, has already discussed the situation with Transport Minister Theresa Villiers.

Mr Wharton said: "I have explained to Theresa Villiers the importance of Teesside airport to our sub-regional economy and my concerns about any sale that could eventually lead to closure.

"She, and the Department for Transport, are now aware of the situation and will be following matters closely.

"It is time for new investment and for the future success of this important facility to be taken seriously."

More on site.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-16178852

 

[WatcherZero]

Serious concern seems to be doing the rounds that a new owner could shut it down. Its usage has declined from close to a million to a fifth of that over the last decade and they have had to introduce extra charges to keep open that are making it even more unpopula to users.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Serious concern seems to be doing the rounds that a new owner could shut it down. Its usage has declined from close to a million to a fifth of that over the last decade and they have had to introduce extra charges to keep open that are making it even more unpopular to users.

What would be the reason for such a dramatic drop in patronage over that period? There must be a large catchment area for passenger usage.

 

[142094]

Lot of the companies that used to fly from DTV have shifted operations, indeed there aren't many flights now. On BBC Look North last night it was said that at one time 900,000 used the airport, but now that is down to around 200,000.

Still, looking on the bright side, Tees-side Airport station has had an increase in services recently...

 

[kylemore]

"no longer fits within the company's strategic plans for it's portfolio of airports"
Code for "it's dead on it's feet"?

Of course the local MP has to be seen to do a "song and dance" about how it's "vital" etc
200,000 a year, thats under 4000 a week barely 500 a day - a pretty irrelevent facility I would say. The way things are going airports like Newcastle will have to work hard to stand still never mind marginal operations like this.

 

[ainsworth74]

Teesside Airport has always struck me as something that's nice to have, rather than essential to the local economy and this does rather sound like the start of the process to close it down.

My family won't miss it, my mother travelled to San Francisco this summer and worked out being cheaper to take the train from Darlington to Heathrow and then fly from Heathrow to San Francisco than catching a flight from Teesside to somewhere like Amsterdam and change there.

 

[tbtc]

Like Doncaster (which was also owend by Peel), Teesside seems to exist more for UK "holidaymakers" taking cheap foreign holidays, rather than for business passengers who make an ecomomic impact.

The market for cheap foreign deals has obviously taken a hammering in the recession (see Thomas Cook's problems), and if that was the main source of income then what future is there?

The growth in small airports catering to the holiday market reminds me of the demand for local stations to have a direct train service to London - everyone wants one even though there's little evidence of it making much benefit to the local economy.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The growth in small airports catering to the holiday market reminds me of the demand for local stations to have a direct train service to London - everyone wants one even though there's little evidence of it making much benefit to the local economy.

I have heard something similar about everywhere in the Northern area wanting a direct rail service to Manchester Airport......now I wonder where I heard this from..

 

[WestCoast]

Quite a number of regional airports in the UK rely on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to provide a service from Amsterdam, where worldwide connections are provided through KLM and their Skyteam partners such as Delta Air Lines.

These airports like Norwich, Humberside and indeed Durham Tees Valley are highly dependent on KLM, since BA/bmi cannot profitably provide a service from their airports to Heathrow. It has been rumoured that KLM may leave DTV, as they have recently done at Liverpool, which is also a Peel airport.

However, DTV has suffered from a great loss of services that I can remember, the reasons for this could be poor management or lack of demand with alternative airports such as Newcastle not being too far away. Bmi pulled their Heathrow route in 2009, citing the recession and lack of demand. Ryanair pulled out shortly after. Bmibaby closed their small operating base. A few charter airlines stopped serving the airport in the summer. Thomson Airways are pulling their summer season flying programme from next year and moving it Newcastle.

That will leave one route from KLM to Amsterdam, one route from Eastern Airways to Aberdeen, one seasonal route from Flybe to Jersey and one route to Burgas (Bulgaria) with Balkan Airways.

 

[tbtc]

I have heard something similar about everywhere in the Northern area wanting a direct rail service to Manchester Airport......now I wonder where I heard this from..

There are similarities. Everyone says that they want one, though there's little evidence of it creating growth (it sounds good though)...