OK,it was from THe Scotsman (October 5 2005),and pasted here---
Dundee says it can no longer bear costs of loss-making airport
JENNIFER HILL
DUNDEE City Council is losing millions of pounds operating the city's
airport - and has told the Scottish Executive it cannot bear the losses
any longer, The Scotsman can reveal.
The council - which receives an Executive grant to operate the airport -
is appealing to ministers for urgent assistance on the back of
spiralling annual losses, expected to hit almost £2 million as early as
2007-8, according to sources. That equates to about £30 per council tax
payer in the region.
"The council is losing big bucks operating Dundee airport and can't cope
for much longer," a source close to the situation said yesterday.
Dundee City Council admitted it was in talks with the Executive over a
huge shortfall between the grant received and operating costs - which is
set to widen as early as next year.
The airport costs more than £2m a year to run, but Executive assistance
comes in at about £800,000, with the remainder of the bill being picked
up by the region's council tax payers.
The deficit could become greater from April 2006, when a "technicality"
will see the council's grant for the airport fall.
A spokesman declined to disclose the potential scale of the drop, but
said the council was "committed to maintaining the airport for the
benefit of businesses and our local community". Stressing the airport's
"strategic importance to the economy of Dundee", he added: "It's a key
element of the future well-being of the city's regional economy in terms
of economic development and tourism, being a key access point of golfing
destinations."
One scheduled service operates year-round from the airport to London
City airport. The daily weekday return service - operated by
Scotairways, 90 per cent owned by Stagecoach tycoons Brian Soutar and
Ann Gloag - carried 49,000 passengers in the year to the end of March. A
further 1,600 travelled on a seasonal service to Jersey this summer, and
there were 268 private charter aircraft movements, helped by the staging
of the Open at St Andrews.
That, however, is a far cry for the one million annual passengers
generally needed for a commercial airport to break even.
The Executive could grant extra cash to alleviate the situation or
off-load the airport on to Highlands and Islands Airports (HIAL),
according to the source.
"The council's appeal to the Executive could result in extra cash to
prop it up. But it's more likely that the council wants the airport
taken off their hands and given to HIAL to run - something the Executive
could do."
All of HIAL's ten airports currently run at a loss. But its largest,
Inverness airport, should move into the black if plans to pay off a
controversial private finance initiative deal for the terminal building
are successful.
A HIAL spokesman declined to comment on any potential takeover of Dundee
airport.
An Executive spokeswoman said it was "looking at ways of resolving the
issue", following "changes in the methodology used to calculate funding
for the airport".
Staying aloft
Dundee City Council has received a grant from the Scottish Executive for
the running of Dundee airport since the formation of the Scottish
Parliament. Its previous owner, Tayside Regional Council, received help
from the Scottish Office to keep it afloat. In the heart of Scotland,
the airport is 56 miles from Edinburgh, 73 miles from Aberdeen and 88
miles from Glasgow.