Hundreds of families headed off on holiday from Teesside International Airport yesterday (July 22) as the travel hub enjoyed its busiest day since returning to public ownership.
Around 2,000 passengers packed the airport on Saturday to board sold-out flights to Faro in Portugal, Spain’s Alicante and Palma in Majorca.
The first Saturday of the school holidays – known as the Summer Getaway – is always one of the busiest in the summer vacation calendar, and on Saturday, Teesside was no exception.
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Holidaymakers were at the busy airport terminal early as flights to Amsterdam and Corfu were the first to take to the skies.
The airport is now on course to record its highest annual passenger numbers since 2011.
It is likely beat the 173,000 traveller total in 2022.
Teesside Airport returned to public ownership in 2019 and has expanded its list of destinations – with airport bosses now looking to add further routes.
The expansion follows £3m of investment in the terminal building which has seen the return of Duty Free and the opening of the Bannatyne Airport Spa.
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “When we took the airport back into public ownership we faced a huge task in turning round its fortunes.
“Since then, we have steadily grown and are now on course for our best year yet by delivering the flights and destinations the people of Teesside, Hartlepool and Darlington want.
“We have much more yet to do however and are working hard to further grow passenger numbers and bring in new businesses in our drive to return the airport to profitability as part of our business plan.”
TUI – one of the UK’s biggest holiday companies – has also expanded its offering from Teesside this year, with twice-weekly flights to Majorca.
It is also offering a service to Antalya, Turkey, ahead of introducing flights to the country’s popular Dalaman destination in 2024.
Balkan Holidays is also operating its service to Bourgas, Bulgaria, and holidaymakers are going further afield with KLM’s three-times daily service to Amsterdam Schiphol, serving 200 onward global destinations.
Work has also recently started on the new Business Park South on the airport’s southside, which is set to create 4,400 jobs when fully operational.
This week also saw the airport’s £2.5million cargo handling facility enjoy its best week for business since it was officially launched just under a year ago.
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