FLYING visits don’t come any more literal than the one I paid London this week when I addressed MPs on the need to maximise the potential of our airports to help rebalance the economy.
I was in the capital for a grand total of five hours, but it gave me plenty of time to demonstrate to our political leaders how much these hubs do for the regional economy and with a little more support, how much more they could be doing.
Both Newcastle International and Durham Tees Valley provide excellent service, but you may be surprised at the vital economic role they play.
For the sake of this newspaper’s geographical coverage let us look at Newcastle as the example.
Newcastle Airport employs 4,000 people with a further 500 located off-site. It supports an estimated 8,500 jobs in the wider supply chain. Taking into account the operational support the airport has – both directly and indirectly – it is roughly responsible for 1% of all employment in the North East.
It seems a staggering statistic, but considering that Newcastle Airport contributes £400m to regional GVA (1% of total) the employment figures seem to make sense.
It is obviously vital to the North East tourism offer and recent figures illustrated that it contributed £9.4m to visitor spending in the region.
Newcastle provides a crucial link to London hub airports. In 2009 the Newcastle-London Heathrow route was the airport’s busiest route, carrying 425,000 passengers per annum with an extra 100,000 travelling from Newcastle to Gatwick.
The point I was making to the country’s policy makers was that with a little help our airports could be doing even more! Oppressive air passenger duty (APD) levels are hampering growth. It has raised costs for exporters who rely on the airport.
APD must be reduced if the Government wants a thriving air industry, and it should be reduced even more in regional airports to rebalance the economy and maximise capacity where applicable.
Air travel is vital for sustainable regional growth... now, don’t get me started on high speed rail and road improvements
James Ramsbotham is chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce
