AN AIRCRAFT which has been specially modified to take large freight is now serving North-East businesses from Teesside International Airport.

The Conroy Guppy is a one-off conversion which in the past has transported elephant, tigers and even herds of giraffe.

It can carry 25 tonnes of freight, but can be hired by firms for a quarter of the price for a conventional jumbo jet.

The Guppy arrived at Teesside from Newfoundland on Friday of last week.

Airport business services manager John Waiting said: "We are encouraged that Johnsons Air has chosen Teesside and by the inquiries we have received from local industry.

"Johnsons Air is a specialist international freight operator, based in Ghana. It does all sorts of work, including carrying pipes, tubes and awkward freight for the British offshore gas and oil industry.

"It hopes to expand its business here and, likewise, Teesside Airport has aspirations to become a large freight operator. We are very pleased with this new arrangement."

Malcolm Porter, of Johnsons Air, said the Guppy was 40 years old. It was built in the United States and converted by one owner, who subsequently sold it on to another.

Originally, it had a conventional fuselage but the upper half was heightened and widened to create greater storage room for freight. It was maintained at an airport in Tennessee but regularly flew to destinations such as Rotterdam, Brazil, Asia and the Middle East.

Mr Porter added: "Teesside was chosen because the airport wants to have world-wide freight links and it has an excellent runway. The freight business is not easy at the moment because of uncertainty since the World Trade Centre attacks on September 11.

"The runway here is very good but rather under-used. It is particularly long, which means heavy aircraft like the Guppy can take off without needing to reach maximum speed. This saves on fuel costs.

"The Guppy was previously based at Stanstead but a lot of its work was for Teesside firms. There is a lot of heavy industry in the North-East, which is ideal for the Guppy."

Engineer Steve Dodson travelled from Essex for launch. "It's a brilliant aircraft. I've worked with it for 13 years and it's absolutely unique." he said.

The plane flies at heights of 25,000 ft and cruises at a speed of 310 knots. It has Rolls Royce Tyne 525 engines, which have 5,400 shaft horse power.