Quote from the Q&A at post 2489:
Isn’t it the case that Peel has no real interest in the aviation side of Tees Valley Airport but regards it as piece of real estate it can exploit?
I wouldn’t deny that we would like to maximise the opportunities of the site and assets around it. If you go into Manchester Airport you see Airport City which has enterprise zone status helping to feed off the airport and invest money back in the airport itself. That is the type of sensible business proposition we want here. To suggest that we would do this at the expense of the airport itself would be incorrect. Our strongest desire is to make the airport successful and we have to make is viable as soon as possible.
This is exactly the sort of thing MME should be doing, attracting as much complementary business as they can to spread the fixed cost base. Passenger numbers aren't everything!