THE owners of Teesside Airport have being urged to reconsider naming the airport James Cook after changing Doncaster Sheffield Airport to Robin Hood.

Peel Airports said it decided to name its newly-built £80m Yorkshire facility Robin Hood Airport after an extensive public consultation exercise.

However, it once again rejected calls to name Teesside Airport after Middlesbrough explorer James Cook.

The company insisted yesterday it would stand by its controversial decision to rename Teesside to Durham Tees Valley Airport.

At the time, Peel Airports said it based its decision on the suggestion many foreigners did not know where Teesside was, but had heard of Durham.

Peel Airports, which has also renamed Liverpool Speke Airport after John Lennon, revealed it consulted extensively with local people before making a decision on Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Other candidates were naturalist Charles Darwin, Second World War fighter pilot Douglas Bader and pioneering aviator Amy Johnson.

However Robin Hood got the vote after historians argued that the real-life Robin Hood, if he existed, probably spent time in the Doncaster area.

Making the announcement, Peel Airports commercial director Neil Pakey said: "We have a rich history and heritage and should make more of these famous names, be they centuries old or more contemporary 20th Century figures."

Dari Taylor, Labour MP for Stockton South, said: "If it's good enough for Doncaster, we should be able to use a real-life hero who actually changed the world. It is shabby to change the name of the airport from Teesside to Durham anyway. What a way to spend money."

A spokesman for Teesside Airport reiterated that the decision to call Teesside Airport Durham Tees Valley would not be changed.