AN aviation boss says he wants to “sweat the asset” to get as much as possible out of Teesside Airport.

Managing director Phil Forster revealed his hopes at the latest Teesside Airport consultative committee after a tough time for the industry. 

The airport recorded losses of £13.8m in 2020/21 – with covid’s hit on aviation blamed. But the airport has seen a number of developments in the past 12 months including Bannatyne Group revealing it is opening a luxury spa in the departures lounge. 

Mr Forster told committee members how the airport now had a “very good route mix” with hopes KLM will bring three flights a day from Amsterdam in April. 

The Northern Echo: Managing director Phil ForsterManaging director Phil Forster

He added: “The BA (British Airways) co-chair with Heathrow is working very well. The numbers are starting to really go well on that. The forward bookings across the board are doing well.”

The airport boss said there’d been good uptake on bookings for TUI flights to Antalya, in Turkey, from May, and routes to Majorca.

And he added they were “having a number of exciting conversations” with new airlines. 

Mr Forster said: “Those things are confidential at the minute but you’ll be the first to know when we have more news. 

“The thing I’m really excited to see is we’ve brought in 16 new routes and we want to start to sweat the asset.

“We’ve got brand new bars, restaurants and you might have seen we’ve got the terminal fit out with duty free open and doing very well.

“You may have seen the Bannatyne spa going in there and the Rockcliffe Lounge is set to open.”

Passenger figures presented to the committee showed a rise in numbers from 2020 when there were very few flights due to the pandemic. 

The report added: “Overall departing passengers for December 2021 are up 700% from December 2020 as a result of aviation opening up from the pandemic.”

There were 5,348 passengers in October last year out of a total of around 13,900 available seats on flights. 

November saw 3,335 passengers out of a maximum number of 7,604 seats and December saw 2,696 passengers out of a total of 7,422 seats on flights. 

Mr Forster told the committee Teesside was “back on the map” when it came to airlines knowing about the airport once again. 

He added there was a “big push” on the wider airport estate – saying there were freight and cargo ambitions and work was continuing on the airport’s “South Side”. 

Mr Forster said: “There are Amazon warehouses going up left right and centre and we’ve got to capitalise on it.”

The airport boss also praised staff at the airport – saying passengers were “going out of their way” to praise workers.

“The big thing I want it to be is giving people the public’s private airport,” he added. 

“I want everyone to come in and feel they’re being given that VIP private airport experience. 

“There are an awful lot of discussions ongoing. Clearly, we’re still in what’s been a horrible situation. A lot of hard work has been put in. 

“We’re now looking forward to sweating the asset.”

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