A PETITION has been launched calling on the Government to safeguard the future of Durham Tees Valley Airport.

Peel Holdings, the airport owners, recently unveiled a masterplan which includes selling nearby land for the development of 400 houses.

This, coupled with the cancellation of Thomson/First Choice and Balkan Holidays services from summer 2014, has prompted some concern among the public that Peel Holdings is not concentrating efforts into bringing more flights to DTVA.

Chris Hobson of Middlesbrough set up a petition titled ‘Keep open Teesside Airport’, expressing his view that the airport was being lost “for no reason” and that it should be offering more destinations to be a real alternative to Newcastle Airport.

The petition, which can be found at change.org, has attracted 250 signatures since it was launched a month ago, and many supporters have commented that they would use DTVA more often if there were more flights from it.

Peel Holdings have previously stated that money generated from any housing development on their land would generate millions of pounds to re-invest in the airport and they are not planning to close it down.

It still operates flights to Aberdeen and Schiphol but the focus for the airport’s future is to move away from it being a traditional transport hub towards becoming a more commercially-focused operation.