Durham Tees Valley Airport saved, but turbulence ahead (From The Northern Echo)
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Durham Tees Valley Airport saved, but turbulence ahead
8:00am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Keep The Region Flying
A DEAL securing the immediate future of Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) last night prompted calls for the new owners to pledge their commitment to the loss-making business.
The decision by the Peel Group to take back control of DTVA ensures it will remain a commercial airport for now, amid fears it was facing administration.
However, while giving the deal a cautious welcome, the region’s MPs and council leaders urged Peel to confirm its long-term plans for the airport.
Councillor Jim Beall, deputy leader of Stockton Borough Council, said: “To dispel further speculation and rumours about its future as an airport, I call on the new owners to make absolutely clear their intentions for its future and to give their commitment to retain and develop it as an operational airport.” Peel Investments (DTVA) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Peel Group, is now the majority shareholder in the airport after purchasing Peel Airports Ltd’s stake.
Vantage Airport Group, formerly Vancouver Airport Services, bought a 65 per cent stake in Peel Airports from Peel Group in June last year.
The remaining minority shareholding in the airport continues to be owned by six local authorities – Darlington, County Durham, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland.
The change of ownership meant it would be business as usual for airport employees, airlines and passengers using the airport, the Peel Group said last night.
Peel Airports chief executive Craig Richmond said: “Since announcing in December 2011 that we were seeking a buyer for our shareholding in the airport, we appreciate this has been a period of uncertainty for the staff, our airline customers, passengers and for the region as a whole.
“I am therefore pleased that we have been able to conclude this sale process, with our partners, the Peel Group, purchasing our shareholding and continuing to maintain the airport’s operational activities.”
Peter Nears, from the Peel Group, confirmed the immediate future of the airport was secure.
He said: “We have seen significant interest and support for the airport from across the region during this difficult period and are looking forward to capitalising on this support and working with stakeholders in the region.”
Asked about potential development of land around the airport, Mr Nears said development was an important feature of any successful airport.
He said: “We need to do this in association with the local authority stakeholders.”
The airport has faced dwindling passenger numbers recently – to about 200,000 a year – and showed a £1.6m loss in its last accounts.
Darlington council leader Bill Dixon said the airport had been given a lifeline, and said: “I think the people of the Tees Valley, Durham and North Yorkshire have been given one last chance to get behind the airport, make use of it and keep it.”
The purchase by the Peel Group was welcomed by Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson.
He said: “At least the airport is being kept open as a going concern rather than going into administration, so we must look at it as a glass that is half-full, but I still believe the airport is facing problems which Peel needs to address.”
He said he would seek urgent talks with Peel to discuss the airport’s future.
Stockton South MP James Wharton said: “We all want to see Teesside continue as a passenger airport and be as successful as possible. We must all now pull behind the new owners and encourage them to ensure it becomes the commercial success it should always have been.
“Peel’s previous track record was not great, but this is a chance to put that right.”
Darlington MP Jenny Chapman welcomed the outcome, but said: “We now need to redouble our efforts to encourage greater use and greater numbers of flights and destinations.”
When councils sold their majority stake in the airport, it was agreed that the councils’ remaining 25 per cent stake could be reduced if Peel invested in the airport.
Comments(11)
timm
says...
12:04pm Sat 11 Feb 12
GeordieB
says...
12:12pm Sat 11 Feb 12
Insp Clouseau wrote:Hmm, if you've got that right, it sounds like putting up commercial firewalls for when the collapse comes.
So the DTV shares have gone from Peel Plc to Peel Airports who sold 65% of the whole Peel Aiport Group to VAS. Peel Airports and VAS have now sold the DTV shares to another new Peel company called Peel Investments! BUT while this clever share moving has been taking place, Peel Plc the parent company have given themselves the airport land to the south which was suspposed to be a cargo centre. DTV Airport no longer own this land and neither do the councils from what I can make out?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
As for Peel didnt they make a statement recently saying the airport industry doesnt fit in with their parent company? Could the latest Peel Investment company just be waiting to claim the rest of the councik shares and claim all the DTV land?
A Companies House search on Peel might make interesting reading?
The only way to secure this airport's future is getting more airlines, to fly to more destinations, more often.
The councils involved need to confirm whether they gave up that land.
timm
says...
12:16pm Sat 11 Feb 12
timm
says...
12:19pm Sat 11 Feb 12
Guy Fawkes
says...
1:20pm Sat 11 Feb 12
The only way to secure this airport's future is getting more airlines, to fly to more destinations, more often.
And that's not going to happen unless Air Passenger Duty on short haul flights is slashed to levels that make air travel competitive with the alternatives for leisure travelling families (e.g. the Channel Tunnel), i.e. more or less eliminated. Given that it was Jenny Chapman's party who introduced APD in the first place, with the specific aim of discouraging such flights on environmental grounds, it would be good to hear her acknowledge that this was a mistake.
gramps427
says...
1:59pm Sat 11 Feb 12
moxie34th
says...
7:42am Sun 12 Feb 12
Insp Clouseau
says...
11:24am Sun 12 Feb 12
One North East were involved but they have since been disbanded!
The Police and Government need to look at these strange land deals.
Guy Fawkes
says...
2:55pm Sun 12 Feb 12
Its time to fight for more of the wealth flying into this country to be redirected to Tees Valley Airport and some of the Governments investment in the railway system spent on building a decent station at Tees Valley...
Rich people (which in this context means anyone who doesn't fly economy class) don't want to use public transport and can afford whatever it costs not to have to; and they certainly don't want a three-hour overland trip after their flight in order to get to their final destination, which in most cases will be in the south-east.
...that can be used to entice airlines to fly into an airport with great road and rail connections.
Sorry, but compared to other airports in the region, ground transportation at MME is relatively poor. It's a 20-minute drive to the nearest north/south trunk roads (the A1 and the A19), or a £15 taxi ride to the nearest main line station. NCL and MAN are directly connected to the trunk road system. Only LBA is in a worse position for ground links (and furthermore the parking there is a lot more expensive than at MME), and they have been losing airlines and routes, too. The only reasons they're not in the crisis that MME is are the proximity of two major cities and that they were starting from a much larger base of airlines and routes.
And so we come back to the same problem - the economy, and APD forcing leisure travellers away from short-haul flights on budget airlines. If ground transport is a problem, then reinstating the free bus from Darlington will achieve much more than re-opening a railway station that is a 20-minute walk from the terminal and only on a little branch line anyway.
Gedmc1
says...
7:53am Mon 13 Feb 12
Insp Clouseau says...
11:01am Sat 11 Feb 12
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
As for Peel didnt they make a statement recently saying the airport industry doesnt fit in with their parent company? Could the latest Peel Investment company just be waiting to claim the rest of the councik shares and claim all the DTV land?
A Companies House search on Peel might make interesting reading?