Durham Tees Valley Airport

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Durham Tees Valley Airport
IATA: MME - ICAO: EGNV
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Peel Holdings and local authorities
Serves		North East England
Elevation AMSL		120 ft (37 m)
Coordinates		54°30′33″N, 01°25′46″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
05/23	7,516 x 150	2,291 x 46	Asphalt

Durham Tees Valley Airport (IATA: MME, ICAO: EGNV) is an airport in North East England, located approximately 10 km (6 miles) east of Darlington, about 16 km (10 miles) south west of Middlesbrough and 39 km (24 miles) south of Durham. The airport is also easily accessible from Stockton-on-Tees, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Redcar and Hartlepool.

Previously called Teesside International Airport, it was renamed on 21 September 2004 as part of a major redevelopment plan in a move unpopular with many local residents.^[1]

Durham Tees Valley Airport is one of the UK's smaller airports, but is rapidly expanding, with a growing number of scheduled and charter flights.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historic events 2 Future 3 Present ownership and status 4 Transport 4.1 Bus 4.2 Rail 4.3 Taxi 5 Recent events 6 Airlines and destinations 6.1 Summer 2007 scheduled services 6.2 Summer 2007 charter services 6.3 Cargo and freight 7 General aviation 7.1 Light aviation and flight training 7.2 Business charter 7.3 Other operators 8 Passenger and cargo statistics 9 References 10 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Introduction

Durham Tees Valley was a RAF base, RAF Middleton St. George (known as RAF Goosepool until 1941). In 1963, the decision was made to close the airfield, and it was sold to Cleveland County Council who developed the site into a commercial airport. Princess Margaretha of Sweden opened the international passenger terminal in 1966. The airport has since been developed as a regional airport for the North East of England.

[edit] Historic events

• April 1964: First flight from the airport took place in the form of a Mercury Airlines flight to Manchester
• November 1969: First flight to London Heathrow with British Midland - a route which still exists today
• 1985: Airport celebrates its 21st birthday
• 1986: Airport charters Concorde for the day
• 1990: One millionth aircraft movement occurs in the form of a British Midland service to London Heathrow
• 1996: Worlds largest aircraft (at the time), an Antonov 124 Condor arrives from Houston, Texas
• 2003 Peel Airports Ltd: takes a 75% stake in the airport and will invest £20m over 5 years
• April 2004: Airports 40th anniversary
• September 2004: The airport changes its name from Teesside International to Durham Tees Valley
• January 2005: Major expansion plans announced which will enable the airport to handle up to 3 million passengers annually

[edit] Future

In December 2006 Stockton and Darlington Councils approved plans for the first stage of a £56 million expansion plan for the airport.^[2]

The plans include an extended and refurbished terminal, with improved baggage handling and check-in facilities, lounges, office space as well as retail and restaurant facilities. Also, a Cargo and Maintenance Village will be built along with nine additional aircraft stands and 4,500 car parking spaces.

A separate planning application has also been approved by Stockton and Darlington, this second plan being for an 18,600sq metre business park with a 100-bed hotel, public house and restaurant.

The Highways Agency has also announced plans to upgrade parts of the A66, which includes improvement to the junction with the airport's main access road. These works should be completed by late 2008.^[3]

[edit] Present ownership and status

Durham Tees Valley Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (number P518) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers and for flying instruction.

The majority shareholder in the airport is Peel Airports who own 75%,^[4] while minority holdings are owned by the successor local authorities to Cleveland County Council: Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool & Redcar and Cleveland borough councils.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Bus

The Sky Express bus service connects the airport with Darlington's train station and town hall. Travel is free for passengers with a valid air ticket on the day, or £2 without. The service runs up to every half hour during the day.

It was launched in May 2005 and is operated by Arriva North East.

Arriva also operates services 20 and 74, the 74 runs from Hurworth/Neasham and Darlington to the airport, and the 20 runs from Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees to the airport.

[edit] Rail

Whilst the airport has its own railway station this is only served by two trains a week. The airport is currently in negotiations with Network Rail to make the nearby Dinsdale railway station the main rail link for the airport in the short term.^[5][6]

[edit] Taxi

Taxis are available directly outside the airport terminal.

[edit] Recent events

Between 14 September 2006 and 7 November 2006, Durham Tees Valley Airport went through some of the most dramatic and memorable changes in its history. Several announcements by various airlines were made that could have sunk the airport into crisis, but miraculously, the airport has come out slightly better off.

On 14 September, the airport's largest operating airline bmibaby announced they were to close their Durham Tees Valley Airport base operation by early November 2006, thus leaving the airport with significantly fewer scheduled services. However on 5 October, less than one month after bmibaby's announcement, Flyglobespan announced they are to takeover where bmibaby left off by basing two aircraft at the airport from the start of the Summer 2007 season, flying to Alicante, Faro, Ibiza, Jersey, Mahon (Menorca), Málaga, Nice, Palma and Pula (Croatia).

They held discussions with the airport to help them decide which routes to fly, and the airport advised them on routes that had been proven popular with either bmibaby, or other carriers in the past, so basically, both the airline and airport, are giving the passengers what they want.

Additionally, Irish low cost carrier Ryanair announced a new route to Barcelona Girona, beginning on 13 February 2007, and the route has got off to the perfect start, with high load factors reported. Also, Polish-Hungarian low cost carrier Wizz Air has announced a new route to Warsaw, set to begin on 28 July 2007.

Following a meeting with the airport, Thomsonfly decided they will keep their Durham Tees Valley Airport aircraft base, for this summer at least, however the crew base is to close thus the aircraft base will be run by crews from the Newcastle Airport base.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Summer 2007 scheduled services

• bmi regional ERJ-145
  • London Heathrow
• Eastern Airways JS41
  • Aberdeen
  • Brussels
• Flyglobespan B737-600
  • Alicante
  • Faro
  • Ibiza (Starts 25 May)
  • Jersey (Starts 30 June)
  • Mahon (Starts 30 June)
  • Malaga
  • Nice (Starts 1 July)
  • Palma
  • Pula (Starts 28 June)
• KLM Cityhopper FK70/F100
  • Amsterdam
• Ryanair B737-800W
  • Barcelona Girona
  • Dublin
• Wizz Air A320
  • Warsaw (Starts 28 July)

[edit] Summer 2007 charter services

Starting week beginning 1 May 2007

• ACT Airlines/Onur Air A321
  • Bodrum
  • Dalaman
• BH Air A320
  • Bourgas
• bmi A320
  • Reus
• Iberworld A320
  • Lanzarote
  • Palma
• Spanair MD83
  • Alicante
  • Ibiza
  • Palma
• Thomsonfly B738
  • Alicante
  • Bourgas
  • Corfu
  • Dalaman
  • Ibiza
  • Mahon
  • Malaga
  • Palma
  • Paphos
  • Reus
  • Tenerife South
• XL Airways B738W
  • Larnaca

[edit] Cargo and freight

• TNT Airways BAe 146-200QT/300QT
  • Liège via Hannover

Occasionally, the TNT cargo flight can either go direct to Liege, or via a different airport. This is not a common occurance however.

[edit] General aviation

[edit] Light aviation and flight training

The airport is one of the more General Aviation friendly bases in Northern England, with no handling charge for GA aircraft under 2 tonnes. The Cleveland Flying School, St George Flight Training and Tees Valley Flight Training are based at the airfield, where it is possible to undertake basic and advanced flight training.

[edit] Business charter

Northern Aviation operate two Beech Super King Air B200's as charter aircraft from Durham Tees Valley Airport. Cleveland Flying School operate a number of Cessna and Piper aircraft and a single Bell 206 JetRanger on Northern Aviation's behalf.

The main business aviation handling agent at DTVA is Midwest Executive Aviation, and they handle most of the business aircraft that fly into DTVA.

[edit] Other operators

Durham Tees Valley is a significant base for FR Aviation, who have a fleet of Dassault Falcon 20's based at the airport. FRA's Durham Tees Valley aircraft fly electronic countermeasure flights for the Royal Air Force and other NATO air forces.

Flight Precision is a Durham Tees Valley based FRA subsidiary who operate four Beech Super King Air B200's.

The Great North Air Ambulance has a single McDonnell Douglas MD902 Explorer based at the airport and the Police have the North East Air Unit based here in the form of a Eurocopter EC-135.

[edit] Passenger and cargo statistics

	Number of Passengers	Aircraft Movements	Cargo (tonnes)	Cargo (1000s lbs)
2000	751,389	54,625	3,011	6,638
2001	733,617	58,494	1,926	4,246
2002	671,131	52,276	1,006	2,217
2003	704,269	51,976	1,087	2,396
2004	788,382	49,529	484	1,067
2005	900,035	51,714	363	800
2006	906,792	55,788	455	1,003
Source: CAA Official Statistics [1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Durham Tees Valley Airport official website
• SkyExpress bus service
• Cleveland Flying School
• St George Flight Training