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Flying start for airport

Durham Tees Valley Airport has offset a tough, snow-ravaged December with soaring passenger numbers in the first two months of the year, it said this morning.

Passenger numbers leapt by 47% in January compared to the same month last year and the upward trend continued in February with a 24% increase.

Figures for three out of the last four months moved upwards, with the exception being December, when severe weather led to a slight decline

The figures for January showed 17, 203 passengers used the airport compared to 11,719 a year ago, although of course the figures for January last year for many airports, including Durham Tees Valley, were affected by weather problems.

In February passenger numbers totalled 16,266, compared to 13,087 in the same month in 2010.

Airport director Mike Morton said: “It’s no secret that Durham Tees Valley has had a tough time over the past couple of years, but I believe that with the turnaround which began in November we are starting to head in the right direction.

“Indeed the provisional statistics for January from the Civil Aviation Authority show that our percentage increases in both passenger numbers and flights in January were among the highest recorded for any UK airport.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .