Member Article

Durham Tees Valley chairman thanks regional business community

The chairman of Durham Tees Valley Airport has praised the North East business community for its “remarkable and encouraging support” over recent months.

Speaking ahead of the North East Chamber of Commerce Tees Valley Dinner, Robert Hough stressed the firm commitment of majority shareholders Peel Investments (DTVA) and the local authority shareholders to secure the future of Durham Tees Valley as a key player in the region’s economy.

Mr Hough said: “I hope that our sponsorship of this major business event in the Tees Valley underlines both our appreciation for the support we have received since becoming majority shareholders in February—and our determination to ensure that the airport has a bright future.

“There are certainly some good signs—over recent months our key services have performed well. Following the major marketing campaign launched with our long-standing airline partner KLM the service between Durham Tees Valley and Amsterdam Schiphol—which, of course, provides access to air routes worldwide—has shown encouraging increases in load factors…in other words the percentage of seats filled…and business has also been buoyant on the Eastern Airways service to Aberdeen.

“The summer programme between Durham Tees Valley and Jersey, operated by Channel Island Travel Services and flybe, has been well over 90 per cent sold, whilst Thomson has shown significantly increased business on its Palma service, coupled with a rise in bookings for next summer.

“Although general market conditions remain challenging, we are continuing to explore possible additional services and routes with airlines and operators, but it is important to emphasise that the future of Durham Tees Valley is dependent on us exploiting business opportunities for the airport site as a whole.”

The chairman went on to outline plans for the “Southside project” - a ten year scheme to develop 150 acres of land to the south side of the runway, that hinges on a decision on the airport’s £5.9m Regional Growth Fund bid.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .