BUDGET carrier flyglobespan said it was still in discussion this week with Durham Tees Valley Airport over its summer 2009 flight schedule.
It is the only outstanding timetable to be announced for the nine landing spots currently used by the firm. The others are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Belfast, Dublin, Manchester, Gatwick and Bristol.
A spokesman said the Durham Tees Valley schedule was “traditionally launched later than the others”, but admitted that the company usually finalised plans by August.
The only other airport for which slots had not been confirmed by last week was Bristol. It has now been axed from the company’s schedule.
Meanwhile, Durham Tees Valley Airport operator Peel Airports could find itself going head to head with Richard Branson’s Virgin group, if it confirms its intention to bid for Gatwick.
Last month, Peel’s deputy chief executive officer Neil Pakey, said the company had not ruled out making a play for the world’s sixth busiest international airport, if, as anticipated, BAA is forced to relinquish its monopoly of London runways by the Competition Commission.
Earlier this week, Virgin confirmed that it was interested in acquiring Gatwick as part of a consortium bid, thought to be backed by Dubai investors. The airline has long called for a shake-up of UK airport control and already owns a part share in the air traffic control company NATS, which, it said made it a prime contender for one of the BAA orphans.
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