Teesside airport under threat

[starrymarkb]

Looks like another small airport is under threat.

Council chiefs accuse airport owners of broken promises
By Joe Willis »
ANGRY council bosses last night accused the owners of Durham Tees Valley (DTV) airport of “reneging” on their promises ahead of a crunch decision on the loss-making airport’s future.

Peel Airports bosses are expected to decide in days whether to continue offering the business for sale or to call in administrators – a move that could spell the end of flights from the airport, at Middleton St George, near Darlington.

The airport’s mounting problems, and Peel’s reluctance to act, have stoked growing concern among the five local authorities with a minority shareholding in the business.

Last night, those frustrations boiled over when Stockton Borough Council issued a statement expressing the authority’s “deep disappointment”

that Peel had put the airport on the market when, 18 months earlier, the firm was planning to invest in the business.

Stockton Borough Council deputy leader Councillor Jim Beall said the council shared the views of many local businesses and residents who thought that no significant developments at the airport had been made since then.

Coun Beall also revealed that only days before the airport was put up for sale, Peel assured council bosses it had exciting plans for the future.

Five local authorities, Stockton, Darlington, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Durham County Council, sold a 75 per cent stake in the airport to Peel just over ten years ago. The deal, worth £500,000 as well as £100,000 towards the councils’ costs, was welcomed because a private operator would be able to invest more and redevelop the former RAF base into a passenger hub.

Peel agreed to spend £20m on the airport over five years.

The recession saw major airlines abandon the airport and a plunge in passenger numbers. Despite this, Peel assured councillors that it had a plan to rebuild the business, while at the same time quietly drawing up plans to sell it.

Coun Beall said: “We had been encouraged to hear a presentation about exciting turnaround plans from the regional director of the airport last December – and so were particularly disappointed to hear, less than a week later, that Peel Airports Ltd had put their shares up for sale.

“We hope that Peel Airports Ltd will find a buyer for their shares who will be able to commit to providing a busy and vibrant airport for the Tees Valley.”

Darlington council leader Bill Dixon said he shared Stockton council’s concerns.

He said: “Peel made certain commitments that have not been honoured. I would expect the company to either honour those commitments or sell the airport to someone who will.”

The Northern Echo understands that in July, the chief executive of Stockton council, Neil Schneider, wrote to Peel Airports on behalf of council shareholders asking a range of questions as to why the fortunes of the site did not match those of the group’s other airports, in particular airports in Doncaster and Liverpool.

He asked what efforts were being made to establish routes to popular, profitable destinations.

Local enterprise partnership Tees Valley Unlimited also invited Peel to a meeting to discuss its efforts to make the airport a success. No one from the company attended.

Last week, no one from Peel Holdings’ board attended Durham Tees Valley Airport’s consultative committee’s quarterly meeting.

It is believed a decision on the sale process will be made within a week, with the options including an extension of the sales period or the airport being placed into administration.

Alternatively, Peel Airports may try to buy back its shares from Vancouver Airport Services, putting it back in complete control.

When councils sold their majority stake, it was agreed that the councils’ remaining 25 per cent stake could be reduced if Peel invested money into the airport. Before Christmas, Peel said it planned to issue a shares dilution notice – increasing its shareholding at the councils’ expense as per the original agreement.

Mr Schneider said: “The local authorities believe that the process to find a buyer has now reached a critical point.

“I expect a dilution notice to be effected in a matter of weeks. I understand that the Peel Airports board is meeting on a weekly basis to make progress in trying to find a buyer. I would also expect that there is a limit to how long Peel Airports will carry on with their funding.”

Peel Airports did not respond to requests for a comment yesterday.

 

[Nym]

And this is supposed to be a supprise? The airlines' network and number of airlines has contracted, and they have done so back to Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool and Doncaster, three of these are within easy access of the DTV Catchment area, and from most railheads it's easyer to get to Newcastle or Manchester, with many more airlines and routes.

 

[WestCoast]

KLM's 3 daily connection to Amsterdam (primarily for onward connections) is crucial to the survival of the airport as this carried 103,264 passengers last year. The total figures for the airport were 190,284 passengers, meaning that approximately 54% of passengers travelling through the airport are flying on this route. The other crucial service is Eastern Airways to Aberdeen.

Summer holiday charter flying on behalf of Thomson is just one route to Palma this year, which has unusually been contracted out to Air Europa. A much reduced programme of flights compared to previous years.

Teesside lost its link to Heathrow with bmi a few years ago.

 

[Ivo]

Where is Mr Stobart when you need him? If his company can effectively save Southend Airport he can do the same at DTV - and then subsidise a more frequent train service and relocating of the platform. I also heard rumours not so long ago that Peel were interested in services between the two.

 

[Smethwickian]

Looks like another small airport is under threat.

When posting news reports verbatim on this site, it might be helpful to reduce potential copyright issues by at least attributing which newspaper or website they are from, please.

The above article was published by the Northern Echo on Saturday, January 28 and is copyright Newsquest.

 

[starrymarkb]

When posting news reports verbatim on this site, it might be helpful to reduce potential copyright issues by at least attributing which newspaper or website they are from, please.

The above article was published by the Northern Echo on Saturday, January 28 and is copyright Newsquest.

Apologies - I meant to grab a link too the original when I posted

 

[WestCoast]

Where is Mr Stobart when you need him? If his company can effectively save Southend Airport he can do the same at DTV - and then subsidise a more frequent train service and relocating of the platform. I also heard rumours not so long ago that Peel were interested in services between the two.

I am not convinced that Stobart Aviation would be able to turn Teesside around. They haven't succeeded in their aim to reintroduce scheduled passenger services at Carlisle, although that in itself was never going to be an easy task.

Southend has the advantage of its relative proximity to London (in airport terms) and good rail connections to the Olympics and Central London.
Despite these factors, one of the first airlines that Stobart courted was Aer Arann, who moved their flights to Waterford in Ireland from Luton upon signing a contract with Stobart. However, they appear to have partially moved back.

The contract with easyJet has been the most significant event, and we shall see how well these flights perform. I am presuming easyJet were given a very good deal to operate out of Southend, or else they wouldn’t have been locked into this contract.

 

[142094]

Strange - as soon as Tees-side Airport railway station sees an increase in services, the place it is supposed to serve starts to see a decrease.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Ah, yes, increased passengers. I wonder if that might be the daily flocks of accountants, valuers, auditors, analysts and surveyors gathering.

Gathering in increasing numbers just as flocks of vultures gather over a herd of dying bison.

 

[WestCoast]

2 trains per week on a Sunday is not really much help to people who want to arrive at the airport by public transport, is it?

Are people supposed to arrive, and then camp out for a couple of days at the terminal waiting for their flight?

This is what the airport tell their passengers about arriving by rail;

Darlington Train Station is the nearest train station to Durham Tees Valley Airport, located just 7 miles away.

Aside from the 'train station' phraseology which will probably upset many people on this forum, that statement is completely wrong.

 

[LE Greys]

Quite frankly, good riddence. It's not that I don't sympathise with the people who will inevitably lose their jobs, but the fewer airports, the better.

 

[WestCoast]

Quite frankly, good riddence. It's not that I don't sympathise with the people who will inevitably lose their jobs, but the fewer airports, the better.

Concentrating passenger air traffic at larger airports is not necessarily a bad thing at all, but these smaller airports often serve a purpose beyond passenger travel, such as performing as a vital base for emergency services like the air ambulance or search and rescue, which cannot be accommodated at larger airports. Essential cargo like postal services may also rely on these airports. Without commercial traffic providing the revenue for these airports, they often cannot run with cargo and emergency services alone.

I don't object to airport expansion in the case of Heathrow, because the environmentalists don't consider that by not having a 3rd runway not only is our economic future jeopardised, it actually causes significantly more air, noise and visual pollution over London because aircraft have to perform numerous landing circles before they can land. These aircraft won't go away.

 

[jon0844]

So get the airport to forget about passenger services from airlines that can cherry pick, and go for the freight market and have done with.

These things prove why rail is better in the long run than air travel for short flights, as you have no idea of knowing when planes will run, let alone increasing fare prices. Airlines aren't forced to run certain routes no matter what (and you wouldn't really want them to run a plane for just 1 or 2 passengers, like a bus or train, on occasion).

 

[WestCoast]

These things prove why rail is better in the long run than air travel for short flights, as you have no idea of knowing when planes will run, let alone increasing fare prices. Airlines aren't forced to run certain routes no matter what (and you wouldn't really want them to run a plane for just 1 or 2 passengers, like a bus or train, on occasion).

In general, I agree with you. HS2 should link to Heathrow and negate the need for short domestic flights up to Manchester or road transport. This is certainly was has happened in certain areas of Germany, with some airlines now 'codesharing' with DB on the Cologne-Frankfurt Airport high speed line, instead of flying the route. In France & Belgium, there are now no flights between Brussels and Paris CDG because air passengers are put on the Thalys TGV which provides a fast direct link.

However, countries or areas with insufficient rail/fast ferry networks do often have Public Service Obligation (PSO) air routes, they certainly do exist in the Republic of Ireland. This is where the government or regional authority puts the air route out to tender and generally guarantees the airline enough revenue to cover costs or pays them to operate it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

So get the airport to forget about passenger services from airlines that can cherry pick, and go for the freight market and have done with.

DTV do still have a very valuable 3 daily link to Amsterdam with KLM, which to be quite honest outside the South East is considered more important than a link to any UK hub airport.

Amsterdam is a gateway to most UK airports.

 

[jon0844]

It's different if a route is guaranteed/underwritten and is there because of no other viable solution. I presume these exist in Sweden to get to the north of the country (and probably Norway and Finland) but are there any of these in the UK?

That's the only way you could rely on air travel for all but the obvious and profitable routes. With our huge taxes, I can see many more airlines just flying into Amsterdam.

 

[WestCoast]

It's different if a route is guaranteed/underwritten and is there because of no other viable solution. I presume these exist in Sweden to get to the north of the country (and probably Norway and Finland) but are there any of these in the UK?

Certain routes to the Scottish Highlands and Islands are financially supported by the Scottish Government under a PSO arrangement. Loganair, operating as Flybe (it used to be BA) under a franchise arrangement, are one of the main providers.

With our huge taxes, I can see many more airlines just flying into Amsterdam.

They will, it's efficient with plenty of capacity. The lower taxes and potentially fees are a sweetener. The only problem is UK ADP is charged from your origin to destination, so it doesn't matter where you travel via, the passenger pays the UK treasury's rate of tax the whole way providing you're on a through ticket.

 

[plannerman]

It's interesting that the Tees council leaders are admiring Liverpool Airport, which is (as far as I'm concerned) a hovel - the gates in particular are glorified portacabins.
Also Liverpool has recently lost its much-vaunted, much-praised by the council but under-used KLM Amsterdam link. If KLM pull out of Tees will that then be curtains for the place?

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Strange - as soon as Tees-side Airport railway station sees an increase in services, the place it is supposed to serve starts to see a decrease.

I Have always wondered why there are so few trains that stop at Tees-Side Airport Station, if they had a smooth & covered walkway that linked Stn To Apt, I should have thought it would have been a convenient public transport link.

 

[WestCoast]

It's interesting that the Tees council leaders are admiring Liverpool Airport, which is (as far as I'm concerned) a hovel - the gates in particular are glorified portacabins.

The more modern part of the Liverpool Airport terminal was recently remodled and to be quite honest I think it's perfectly adequate. All of Liverpool's airlines will soon be low-cost airlines, who don't want to pay for, in the words of Micheal O'Leary, "Taj-Mahal like terminals".
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Also Liverpool has recently lost its much-vaunted, much-praised by the council but under-used KLM Amsterdam link. If KLM pull out of Tees will that then be curtains for the place?

Liverpool has two major airlines to fall back on, which considering the airport's location as only 35 miles or so to the busiest airport outside London, signals that it will be business as usual for the foreseeable future.

Teesside isn't in that position, considering that 54% of all the passengers fly on the KLM route.

 

[142094]

I Have always wondered why there are so few trains that stop at Tees-Side Airport Station, if they had a smooth & covered walkway that linked Stn To Apt, I should have thought it would have been a convenient public transport link.

It's been like that for a while - plus the station is needs to be relocated further up the line.

 

[jon0844]

The only problem is UK ADP is charged from your origin to destination, so it doesn't matter where you travel via, the passenger pays the UK treasury's rate of tax the whole way providing you're on a through ticket.

There must be a way around that?! Surely some airline has opted to sell two individual tickets - perhaps issued from abroad?

Or, maybe the airline industry should copy the railway model and allow people to buy ticket extensions from Amsterdam as long as the plane lands there...

 

[starrymarkb]

A lot of Tour Agencies are booking flights outbound to London and return from Paris (with a Eurostar Transfer)