MME vs NCL
The problem with the North East area as a whole is it has it's eyes firmly set on Tyneside. A great deal of the money that has ever come into the area through the EU or our own government has been ploughed into the Tyneside area. You only have to look at the regeneration along the banks of the Tyne and compare it too the Wear and Tees (you only have to look at the super casino bids in that Middlesborugh in terms of employment and investment etc could of done with it more than Newcastle, but Newcastle got it). That in turn has aided the airport at Newcastle as they have gained business off the back of that.
The argument about the local authorities is simple, Durham had a stake in both MME and NCL yet were happy to help NCL expand and progress and hindered any expansion and progression at MME.
The argument about the managment at MME is a valid one in that they have been poor to say the least, I know.
MME4eva the LHR service has actually decreased over the years and has been messed around with poor timings etc, so they haven't been sucssessful there. They managed to attract services from Eastern to BRU and BRS but neither service was well thought out. BRU service did not allow a full working day in Brussels yet services from NCL and LBA both did and provided onward connections. The BRS service was competing with Easyjet out of NCL. The airport managment should of pointed these points out to Eastern as all that was ever going to happen was the services were going to stop and so put a black mark against the name of the airport.
Then we have the bmibaby fiasco. ATC at the airport were actually informed by an outsider about them pulling out, which I think is a little out of order when a business looses a third of its core business!!
The demand for services is there, its upto managment at the airport to find the right airline for the service, BRU and BRS are two examples and LGW and Belfast are another two.
The name change was another poor decision by the managment, which is still hated by the local population and has on occasions for myself and I'm sure for others caused embarrsment at airports when you are told that they don't know where Durham Tees Valley Airport is but do know where Teesside Airport is!
MME is in a better geographic position than NCL, in that there are no hills to contend with off either end of MME's runway, also the geological position is better, no dirty big hole waiting to appear in the runway!
The argument about ease of access into MME is stupid when it is easier and more convienient for someone to travel from Darlington or Middlesborugh to Manchester airport than it is MME and likewise to NCL. The fact is that MME has a station that isn't really used and has poor public transport links with it nearest town. That lies with the managment not doing enough.
If we look back to the begining of the 80's the two airports in terms of scheduled departures each week were very similar (in actual fact MME had more, but NCL had many more IT departures). If you look at where they are today though, MME has stood still and actually gone backwards while NCL have gone forwards.
No one reason is the definitive one but they all add up.
Rant over now, sorry!