Turbulent times as Durham Tees Valley Airport airport cuts jobs

Jan 14 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

DURHAM Tees Valley Airport has announced a radical revamp after passenger numbers fell by 53% to 300,000 in 2009.

The shake-up will see its terminal building segregated into first and second-class lounges and the airport will now close overnight. There will be 32 job losses.

The move follows a tough year for the air travel industry globally which impacted on the terminus near Darlington and led to it losing its three-times-a-day flight to London.

Passenger numbers in 2009 were 306,323 compared with 670,000 in 2008.

The job cuts will leave the airport with 143 staff and airport chiefs say the remaining staff will be asked to adopt more flexible working arrangements.

Airport director Kerry Quinn said: “Every aspect of air travel has been hit by the economic crisis and we have to look at how best we can respond to the greatly changed world in which we are now operating, at the same time as ensuring that we are in a position to exploit all possible opportunities for the future.

“Regrettably, creating financial stability in the current economic situation does mean reducing our overall staff numbers and modernising all aspects of the operation, including looking at those services we can best deliver ‘in house’ and those which are best outsourced, together with the introduction of greater flexibility through multi-skilling.

“Implementing change is never easy, but we firmly believe the proposals we have announced provide the best way forward to ensure that the airport has a sound future and can continue to make a valuable contribution to our local economy.”

She went on to say that passenger numbers have been hit by increases in the Air Passenger Duty (APD), which has attracted opposition from airlines and businesses – highlighted in the Journal’s Tax Too Far campaign.

Roger Wiltshire, secretary general of the British Air Transport Association, said: “The industry is having to take difficult decisions as a result of the deepest recession for many decades.

“Although there are signs of this bottoming out, the recent increases in APD, the UK passenger tax, to be followed by another unjustified rise later this year will simply add to the harsh environment the industry is facing.

“Developing and maintaining routes can be tricky at the best of times, but the current economic climate combined with the added burdens imposed by Government will continue to impact upon airports, airlines and travelling public.”

DTVA, which is owned by the Peel Airports Group, says the move to a twin terminal operation will see the terminal building divided in a premium area targeted at scheduled services and business travellers and another area which will handle holiday charter and low-cost services.

Ms Quinn said the new-look airport had been developed following detailed discussions with airlines and was already delivering results – highlighted by Eastern Airways’ recently- introduced service to Southampton.

Darren Roberts, Eastern Airways’ communications manager, said: “We’ve provided the local business community with essential transport links from Durham Tees Valley Airport for nearly 10 years.

“Our long-established Aberdeen service continues to save business travellers valuable time. The launch of our Southampton service in October further demonstrates our commitment.”