BALKANISATION, is a geopolitical term used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or uncooperative with one another.
And that just about sums up the underpinning attitude which drives the futile attempts to resuscitate Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA), whilst studiously avoiding the obvious need to promote stronger links to a much better and growing regional resource at Newcastle Airport.
The latest effort, hailed as a breakthrough – without any sense of irony – is the arrival of Balkan Holidays as the latest operator at DTVA. It has the nostalgic whiff of a 1950’s black and white Ealing comedy and will, for a while, be as amusing.
The issue is that we are too small, in population terms, to support two airports in the North -East. We struggle to reach 2.6 million across the region, whereas Yorkshire has a population of 5 million and the big metropolitan areas of the North West are even greater in total. Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, Sheffield, Manchester, and Liverpool airports are sufficient. It’s their connectivity to the Tees Valley which is the problem.
But, unfortunately, too many people are allergic to facts and have such a deep antipathy to the words ‘Newcastle Airport’ that’s it’s difficult to shape a response that is anything other than a return to the past. A place where clearly a lot of people feel much more comfortable.
Paul McGee, Stockton-on-Tees
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