Serving the Teesside Business Community | 61
Durham Tees Valley Airport’s annual
passenger numbers have fallen from
918,000 to 129,000 since 2006.
W
As the the region awaits
the next twist in the saga
of Durham Tees Valley
Airport, here’s our recap
of the political spat that
recently took place over
the future of our airport.
HOT AIR
hen a bitter war of words broke out
between our region’s Conservative
mayor and the five Labour council
leaders it left the future of the Tees region’s
airport hanging in the air.
That was mid-February and, as Tees
Business went to press, there was no further
progress to report apart from a short quote
from a spokesman for Tees Valley Combined
Authority.
He said “The Combined Authority’s cabinet
has agreed to support a full appraisal of
options for the ownership and development
of the airport, and to develop proposals
to support the expansion and marketing
of routes, led directly by the Combined
Authority.”
The truth is that there is likely to be several
more twists to this particular tale.
The row erupted when Tees Valley mayor
Ben Houchen promised to veto plans to hand
£500,000 of public money to the owners of
Durham Tees Valley Airport.
The mayor vowed to scupper the plans
after an amended budget was forced through
by the five Labour council leaders who head
the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA).
With Houchen having won last year’s
mayoral election with a pledge of to buy back
the struggling airport, he said an initial budget
would have committed the funds to setting
out legal groundworks intended to bring the
airport back into public control.
But the leaders of Middlesbrough,
Stockton, Redcar, Hartlepool and Darlington
councils refused to sanction the move,
instead approving their own amended budget
focused on securing £500,000 for owners
Peel Airports to attract more flights to the
loss-making airport.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen
says he will unveil proposals
However, Houchen
to bring the airport back into
– who must approve
public ownership “in the
the budget before the
coming months”.
money is handed to Peel
– refused to sanction the
release of the funds.
Figures released by the
Civil Aviation Authority
show the airport’s 11th
successive fall in annual
passenger numbers
– down to less than
129,000 in 2017 from a
peak of nearly 918,000
in 2006.
The row came shortly
after an announcement
that Loganair was cancelling its routes from
he planned to unveil proposals to bring the
Teesside to Aberdeen – predominantly used
airport back into public ownership.
by offshore workers – just months after their
Houchen pledged to buy back the region’s
launch.
airport during his successful election
Houchen said he felt it was clear the local
campaign and continues to insist that
council leaders were “in cahoots” with Peel
remains the plan.
Airports. “They are bending over backwards
In a statement, Peel Airports said: “We
to bung £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to
have no plans to sell our stake in the airport.
Peel for nothing in return,” he said. “It isn’t
Nine months since the mayor’s election,
going to happen.
DTVA has still not received any form of
“They’ve ridden roughshod over local
proposal from the mayor, nor have we
politicians for decades, except I won’t give
discussed any initiatives he can enable that
in to their bullying. Peel only stand up and
might help the airport grow.”
take notice of people who stand up to them.
However, Houchen insisted: “I will be
That’s what I’m doing.
presenting my proposal to bring our airport
“They are a multi-million pound company.
back into public ownership in the coming
It’s about time they stuck their hands in their
months.
own pockets rather than going cap in hand to
“It has taken time, but the public expect
rate payers.”
me to get this right. Only in local hands can
Meanwhile, Peel reiterated that they had
we guarantee our airport won’t close.”
no plans to sell the airport after Houchen said