Call for more support over airports
MINISTER for the North-east Nick Brown will lead a delegation of local MPs in a meeting with aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick today, calling for more Government support for regional airports.
It follows mounting concern over the future of Durham Tees Valley, which has been hit by a sequence of route cancellations, the most critical of which was the axing of BMI Midlands’ three daily flights to Heathrow, which end on Saturday.
According to Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit, the loss of the service will cost local businesses around £1.4m a year.
The meeting comes just days after Civil Aviation Authority figures showed that regional airports had suffered their first fall in volumes in 18 years. Tees Valley’s passenger numbers fell 12% from 733,676 to 645,138. DTV’s results were marginally worse than Newcastle International Airport’s 10.9% decline (to 5,016,640) and significantly poorer than the UK average fall of 1.9%.
MPs will argue that Heathrow’s landing charges, which have forced airlines already under the cosh from declining passenger numbers to cut internal flights, runs counter to airport owner BAA’s claim that it is the UK’s national hub and undermines its argument for a third runway.
Mr Brown is thought to favour a review of aviation policy which would work in the regional airports’ favour, including an order from the Government that Heathrow should ringfence slots for feeder flights from Durham Tees Valley, among others.
The lobby follows the Competition Commission ruling against BAA last week, in which it was officially instructed to sell Glasgow or Edinburgh within two years. It has already put Gatwick on the market.
Meanwhile, Durham Tees Valley’s High Court case against bmibaby for £12m damages following its withdrawal continues.
