DURHAM TEES VALLEY AIRPORT - 5
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near MME, England, UK
Age: 35
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To answer Johnny Chips question Newcastle is not making money, their financial problems have been very well documented recently. They did refinance a couple of months ago but from what I can gather that's just a short-term fix and if the banks decided to call in the loans, I think they'd have a serious problem.
Yes DTVA makes a loss, but Peel simply offset it against the profits of other subsidiaries, or something like that, I'm not financially minded, but there is no debt whatsoever, nothing is owed to anyone.
Both airports are very viable and have significant potential in very different ways but for some reason, possibly partly due to politics, said potential never seems to get explored.
Yes DTVA makes a loss, but Peel simply offset it against the profits of other subsidiaries, or something like that, I'm not financially minded, but there is no debt whatsoever, nothing is owed to anyone.
Both airports are very viable and have significant potential in very different ways but for some reason, possibly partly due to politics, said potential never seems to get explored.
Join Date: Jul 2011
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VentureGo, I apologise for the "precious Newcastle" comment, there is a north / south divide within our region and I would love to see it disappear.
For the record though, the guilty parties I referred to in that post need to make the same apology but I can't see it happening somehow!
For the record though, the guilty parties I referred to in that post need to make the same apology but I can't see it happening somehow!
Bourgas is presumably BGH? With this and the IBZ signs of a levelling off in passenger traffic. If these work the next step is to build the charter traffic and try to obtain a critical mass of those holiday travellers who spend a bit in the terminal to attract more shops, etc.
In the mean time, make what you can from the rest of the site - car park not being used? yes, rent it out for caravans! Hangar under utilised? encourage Sycamore and their dismantling business. These are exactly the sort of things DTVA needs to be doing.
Next test will be what happens with the RGF, especially if it gets refused - be interesting to see what Peel do then. So sure they're interested in the land, but I still believe its more valuable with an airport attached.
(Hope this is positive enough for somebody north of the Tyne!)
In the mean time, make what you can from the rest of the site - car park not being used? yes, rent it out for caravans! Hangar under utilised? encourage Sycamore and their dismantling business. These are exactly the sort of things DTVA needs to be doing.
Next test will be what happens with the RGF, especially if it gets refused - be interesting to see what Peel do then. So sure they're interested in the land, but I still believe its more valuable with an airport attached.
(Hope this is positive enough for somebody north of the Tyne!)
Last edited by SWBKCB; 3rd May 2013 at 18:37.
lighten up ?
come on guys..its been pretty miserable on here the last few years,All credit to Peel for keeping positive in the face of obvious mounting losses.
I know its difficult but a few light hearted posts keep us all going!!
Ibiza and now Bourgas is great news...come on those who can..keep the good news going!!
one not sycamore pretty quiet...what next please?
I know its difficult but a few light hearted posts keep us all going!!
Ibiza and now Bourgas is great news...come on those who can..keep the good news going!!
one not sycamore pretty quiet...what next please?
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near MME, England, UK
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Hope you're right about Bourgas, a superb couple of weeks for the airport if true! Having said that, I'm having trouble finding any trace of it on any of the usual news websites and it's only a couple of years ago (see page 66 of this thread) since the previous Bourgas route was dropped and was made to go via Glasgow before being axed?
Join Date: Mar 2013
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As someone who lives locally and has flown in and out of MME on 16 occasions this year (8 trips) and has another 3 trips already booked, I desperately want the airport to thrive, if only for the selfish reason that I don't want to travel to Newcastle or Leeds/Bradford for my work trips.
With the airport losing money, Peel has clearly has to diversify to try and increase income. Whether the government funding to develop a freight terminal comes off or not, Peel has to attract more conventional flights from the airport.
Therefore they really have 4 options:
1) Charter flights
2) Business flights into a European hub
3) Business flights into specialist business airports
4) Low cost carriers
All of the above have to be done alongside protecting the KLM business, without which MME could well collapse. The only way to grow the business in the medium term appears to grow the charter flight business. LCCs will just demand tiny landing fees and flights to Frankfurt (which would be great for me) would just cut into KLM's existing business. I am no expert on business specific flights but others like Aberdeen would be interesting but not generate much revenue in terms of fees or spend in the shops.
I applaud the thrust of onyxcrowle's earlier post and his positive attitude. A successful local airport means only good things for the local economy. This is why the Ibiza and Bourgas news should be welcomed by all.
As an observation, I was in Darlington town centre over the weekend. Many travel agents had small promotions in their windows but I didn't notice one promoting the fact that customers could actually fly from an airport that was 10 minutes drive away.
With the airport losing money, Peel has clearly has to diversify to try and increase income. Whether the government funding to develop a freight terminal comes off or not, Peel has to attract more conventional flights from the airport.
Therefore they really have 4 options:
1) Charter flights
2) Business flights into a European hub
3) Business flights into specialist business airports
4) Low cost carriers
All of the above have to be done alongside protecting the KLM business, without which MME could well collapse. The only way to grow the business in the medium term appears to grow the charter flight business. LCCs will just demand tiny landing fees and flights to Frankfurt (which would be great for me) would just cut into KLM's existing business. I am no expert on business specific flights but others like Aberdeen would be interesting but not generate much revenue in terms of fees or spend in the shops.
I applaud the thrust of onyxcrowle's earlier post and his positive attitude. A successful local airport means only good things for the local economy. This is why the Ibiza and Bourgas news should be welcomed by all.
As an observation, I was in Darlington town centre over the weekend. Many travel agents had small promotions in their windows but I didn't notice one promoting the fact that customers could actually fly from an airport that was 10 minutes drive away.
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Durham
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Airport Consolidation Needed
This suggests a reduction in UK airport numbers:
UK?s Regional Airports in Fight for Viability | Aviation International News
Airport Consolidation Needed (extracted from attached link):
“He also claims that the UK–whose land area roughly equals that of California–has too many regional airports outside London and could better do with just eight: Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton (in England): Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow (Scotland, excluding highland/island airports that enjoy public-service status); and Belfast (Northern Ireland). “
UK?s Regional Airports in Fight for Viability | Aviation International News
Airport Consolidation Needed (extracted from attached link):
“He also claims that the UK–whose land area roughly equals that of California–has too many regional airports outside London and could better do with just eight: Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton (in England): Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow (Scotland, excluding highland/island airports that enjoy public-service status); and Belfast (Northern Ireland). “
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: North Yorkshire UK
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Some good points there by tigertanka but regarding your observations in the Travel Agent's Windows, just where could prospective customers fly to from the airport 10 minutes drive away. "Our" airport is in a seriously bad place at the moment. Imagine two supermarkets, one is bulging at the seams with customers, shelves are overflowing with goods, with loads of choice and a vibrant atmosphere. The other one down the road has empty shelves, a glum atmosphere, entry by the back door and charges more for everything than the bright and cheery place up the road. It's not rocket science. Our saviour (KLM) consistantly charges a lump more for tickets from Teesside compared to Newcastle.
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I'm not sure why you are comparing KLM prices with Newcastle where there is competition and the airline has a lot more seats to sell. If you compare prices with Humberside KLM's fares are not higher from Durham Tees Valley.
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Anyone living north of the Tees is going to compare Teesside with Newcastle. Humberside dosen't really come into it. My sister who lives halfway between Teesside and Newcastle recently enquired about 6 seats to Bergen for a family wedding. The cost difference between Teesside and Newcastle for same day and roughly the same departure times was staggering, and that's without the extra £36 departure tax. The so called competion at Newcastle is a point to point airline, namely Easyjet and is of no use for anyone wanting to stage through Amsterdam to a final destination on the KLM network. If KLM charged the same from Teesside why would anyone want to travel the 100 miles round trip up to Newcastle.
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Good news?
Firstly, let me stand up and say its great to hear some positive news about new routes from the airport - it is what is needed.
However....I'm not convinced this will do anything to increase annual passenger numbers as aren't we due to lose Tenerfie and Alicante from this coming winter?
In which, case we'll lose 2 and gain 1 and a bit....so the annualised trend when the numbers come out will be still be down?
Or am I missing something? In fact, is it clear TFS and ALC have gone?
However....I'm not convinced this will do anything to increase annual passenger numbers as aren't we due to lose Tenerfie and Alicante from this coming winter?
In which, case we'll lose 2 and gain 1 and a bit....so the annualised trend when the numbers come out will be still be down?
Or am I missing something? In fact, is it clear TFS and ALC have gone?
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Thomson Winter Programme - or not!
Hi - If you try booking on the Thomson Winter Programme site for DTVA you will eventually get the following message:
! Sorry! We don't fly from Durham Tees Valley during Winter 2013/14, please try another airport.
! Sorry! We don't fly from Durham Tees Valley during Winter 2013/14, please try another airport.
Doing a back of the envelope calculation...
In 2012, MME saw the following passengers to Spanish airports
Alicante - 7,758 (all charter)
Palma - 9,058 (all charter)
Tenerife - 8,000 (all charter)
The planned Ibiza flights will like the Palma flights be a 1x weekly trip for the same number of weeks in the summer. We might guess that the Ibiza route will perhaps have roughly the same number of passengers as Palma - so MME-Spain in 2014 might gain about 9,058 passengers in summer, while MME loses 15,758 passengers in the winter, compared to 2012
Net result - loss of about 6,750 passengers to/from Spain or about 4% of annual passenger load in 2014 compared to 2012
In 2012, MME saw the following passengers to Spanish airports
Alicante - 7,758 (all charter)
Palma - 9,058 (all charter)
Tenerife - 8,000 (all charter)
The planned Ibiza flights will like the Palma flights be a 1x weekly trip for the same number of weeks in the summer. We might guess that the Ibiza route will perhaps have roughly the same number of passengers as Palma - so MME-Spain in 2014 might gain about 9,058 passengers in summer, while MME loses 15,758 passengers in the winter, compared to 2012
Net result - loss of about 6,750 passengers to/from Spain or about 4% of annual passenger load in 2014 compared to 2012