I was talking to a former Duty Officer from Teesside who, back in the 80s, got all of the airliner training sorties in by offering free landings as long as they buy their fuel from us. Was a nice way to keep the airport busy during the downturn in flights happening at the time.
BA even based a Vanguard and BAC 1-11 at Teesside for a number of weeks to train crews.
As for VAS, I've heard from someone else that a new route or routes is in the pipeline, so fingers crossed. They told me who and where, but I won't say anything yet as it's only rumour.