TEESSIDE International Airport has celebrated its 40th birthday.
Local broadcaster and journalist Ian Hindmarsh, one of the first passengers at the airport, helped the celebrations by cutting the birthday cake yesterday.
RAF Middleton St George, as it was, was purchased from the military for £340,000 by the local authorities of the day.
After re-equipping, terminal works and conversion of the officers' mess into the St George Hotel, the total investment came to £1.35m.
Over the years the airport has gone from strength-to-strength, with passenger numbers growing from 14,300 to 740,000.
Peel Airports are investing £20m over the next five years and work was recently completed to the terminal front road, car parks, departure lounge, customs examination hall and exit corridor.
A new access road funded by One NorthEast and Tees Valley Regeneration is on target to be opened in early autumn.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article