AIRPORT bosses hope passenger numbers could take off after holding talks with potential new airline partners this week.

A team from Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTV) jetted out to the annual Routes Europe event in Tallinn, Estonia in a bid to persuade more airlines to fly from this region.

About 800 decision makers gathered at the summit to decide where new air routes are opened across the continent in the upcoming year.

The airport and Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) held what were described as "positive discussions" with two low cost carriers and also with some scheduled airlines in a bid to turn around a slump in passenger numbers. Talks were also held with a freight operator.

The move comes after it emerged that Peel, the airport's new owner, is bidding for government cash to launch a major freight operation on the site. They have not given up hope of boosting passenger numbers too despite seeing them fall from a high of almost one million in 2006 to about 200,000 this year.

Stephen Catchpole the managing director of TVU, who accompanied Peel on its trade mission, said: "I think the airlines we spoke to went away impressed with what Tees Valley as a region has to offer, but these are hard nosed business people and all they are interested in is if you can fill their aircraft.

"This type of event is about building relationships and getting a chance to put your case across. The low cost carriers we met were looking at airports that don't already have strong links with Ryanair or Easyjet, so that put us in the frame. We left feeling optimistic but there is no getting away from the fact that we have a tough task ahead of us."

At the meetings airlines were given a detailed factsheet which promoted the Tees Valley as a hot spot for industry, tourism and export, with about 35,000 potential business and more than 1,000,000 leisure passengers living within a 30 minute drive of the airport. TVU also offered to host follow up talks in this region.

In recent years DTV has haemorrhaged services and struggled to attract any significant new flights. Last summer Eastern Airways axed its Southampton service but the real body blow came in 2009 when BMI pulled its flights to London.

However, the airport came out fighting last month with a new marketing campaign backed by a pledge of support from operator KLM, which runs three daily services to Amsterdam.