Mr Houchen said the losses were "proof of delivery" on the pledge he made to scrap Peel's plan for housing. He said: "When I brought our airport back into public ownership, I made a commitment that not a single house would ever be built on our airport for as long as I am Mayor. I said very publicly that I would stop Peel’s plan to build 350 homes right outside the airport terminal on the car park, a decision the vast majority of local people backed.
He added: "The previous owners expected to get £5m for the 350 houses. "Once this is removed from the airport’s accounts, the performance of our airport is where we expected it to be at this stage in my 10-year rescue plan that people can view online". The accounting period represented "just six weeks" under the new owners, he added.
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'Teesside Airport's figures are where they should be': Mayor responds as £5m losses revealed