Teesside International Airport

The aerodrome began life in January 1941 as Royal Air Force Station Middleton St. George or RAF Goosepool as known to the locals (though it has never officially held that name). It was the most northerly of all Bomber Command airfields, home to both RAF and Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons during WWII, and exclusively RAF post-war.[5] Bombing missions from the station included those to Berlin, Hanover, Kassel, Mannheim and Munich.[6][7] Of the many military aircraft based at the aerodrome, it is best known as home to the Avro Lancaster during the war and English Electric Lightning afterwards. In 1957, the runway was extended to its current length of 7516 ft (2291m). The RAF station was closed in 1964 and the airfield sold to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Passengers boarding a British Midland Viscount 813 in 1987

British Midland Douglas DC-9s at the airport in 1994

Control tower

The former RAF Station was then developed into a civil airport. The first civilian flight from the newly named Tees-Side Airport took place on 18 April 1964 with a Mercury Airlines service to Manchester.[5] On 1 November 1966, the international passenger terminal was opened by Princess Margaretha of Sweden.[8]

The IATA code for the new airport was determined as MME, there are multiple theories as to what this relates to, one being Middlesbrough Municipal Airport, an earlier proposed name for the facility.[9]

In the early days the airport developed a network of mainly scheduled routes, with limited inclusive tour charter flights. The destinations were consistent but the airlines were not, with British Midland, BKS Air Transport, Dan-Air, Autair and Channel Airways all coming and going before the turn of the decade. In November 1969 British Midland returned when they were awarded the licence to fly the London Heathrow route, which they continued operating until 28 March 2009.

The 1970s saw a decline in regional services but a growth in holiday flights, courtesy of Northeast Airlines (a rebranded BKS Air Transport) and Britannia Airways, as well as overseas operators such as Aviaco, Spantax and Aviogenex amongst others.

On 19 October 1971 the Teesside Airport railway station opened, with a shuttle bus running between the station and the terminal.

In 1974, the shares were divided between the newly formed Cleveland and Durham County Councils.[10] Also during the year, the CAA declared Tees-Side should be the primary airport for the North East of England.

The 1980s saw scheduled routes catch back up to holiday flights mainly courtesy of home-grown airline Casair Aviation Services, who had started out as an air taxi operator in 1972. In October 1982 Casair merged with Genair of Liverpool and Eastern Airways of Humberside (a predecessor to the airline of the same name still based) under the Genair name, and one month later the first UK regional feeder franchise network was launched when Genair partnered with British Caledonian, trading under the British Caledonian Commuter Services banner. Unfortunately the new venture only lasted until July 1984 when Genair collapsed, causing the loss of 11 out of 18 routes.[11] Luckily the airport valued the services more than owed fees, leading to Casair being reborn and taking over Genair services to Glasgow and Humberside, which they operated on behalf of Air Ecosse and later on their own.

On 11 December 1982 the airport chartered Concorde for the day, it would visit twice more before its retirement, on 23 August 1986 for the air show and 30 April 1995.

In 1987 the airport was privatised, with Cleveland and Durham local authorities retaining their shares. As part of this the airport rebranded from Tees-Side Airport to Teesside International Airport.

1990 saw the one millionth aircraft movement at the airport, in the form of a British Midland service to London Heathrow. In 1996 when Cleveland County Council was abolished, the airport ownership was divided amongst local Borough Councils. Passenger numbers grew steadily from 1993 based upon an expanding holiday charter business.

In 1994 Airtours arrived on the scene and from 1997 based a summer seasonal aircraft at the airport, this coupled with other tour operator expansion propelled the airport to new heights.

In 2002 the airport sought a strategic partner to assist with future development and Peel Airports Ltd was selected as the preferred company, taking a 75% stake in the airport, to be increased to 89% after 10 years, with a commitment to invest £20m over the first five years.

Peel brought Teesside into the low cost era by securing bmibaby who based initially one, later two aircraft at the airport.

On 21 September 2004 the airport was renamed Durham Tees Valley Airport at the request of bmibaby, who felt the new name placed the airport better geographically as many of the airport's passengers, particularly those from outside the UK, were unfamiliar with the location of Teesside, whilst Durham was better known. The move was widely divisive and condemned by the local population who felt passionately about the name Teesside, who regarded it as a denial of the regions industrial heritage. There is no specific geographical area as the Tees Valley, and it was perceived as a cosmetic rebranding exercise of Teesside, itself abolished in the Local Government Act 1972 reorganisations but still associated with the historically important involvement in heavy industry, ship building, chemical manufacture, iron & steel making and pollution, most of which had significantly declined, or no longer existed by that time. [12]

Shortly afterwards, a new access road, terminal front and terminal interior were completed, but the remainder of a planned £56 million expansion and development programme which would have enabled the airport to handle up to 3 million passengers annually never materialised due to falling passenger numbers after 2006.[13][14][15][16] Other developments included new airfield lighting installed and during 2012, six-figure sums spent revamping the terminal building and renovating one of the World War II-era hangars.

In late summer 2006, bmibaby announced their surprise departure from Durham Tees Valley Airport. Airport bosses were quick to replace them with Flyglobespan who opened an initial two-aircraft base.

Passenger numbers peaked in 2006 when the airport was used by 917,963 passengers. However, since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, numbers declined to 130,911 in 2017 before starting to rise again in 2018.

In 2010, Vancouver Airport Services purchased a controlling 65% stake in Peel Airports Ltd and in December 2011, placed the airport into administration and up for sale.[17] This led to the Peel Group purchasing their 75% share back on 10 February 2012 under a new subsidiary, Peel Investments (DTVA) Ltd.[18]

In November 2010 the airport introduced the passenger facility fee of £6 to curb the airport's losses.[19] Passengers must purchase a ticket from a machine before being allowed to proceed through security.[20] Similar schemes were at the time already in place at other small English airports including Blackpool, Newquay and Norwich.[19] Passenger numbers during 2011 were 15% lower compared to 2010.

On 11 January 2011, Ryanair left the airport after ending their service to Alicante Airport, having previously served Dublin Airport, Girona Airport and Rome Ciampino Airport. They decided to leave the airport before the introduction of the Passenger Facility Fee.[21]

On 30 October 2013, after it became clear the market wasn't going to yield any further charter flights, the airport announced it would no longer accept such flights[22] as part of cost-cutting plans that will see the airport diversify into a business airport. The airport stated it would instead focus on scheduled routes and non-passenger related aviation such as cargo/general aviation. The news was part of a master plan for the airport site, including residential and commercial development, released in November 2013.

In November 2013, Peel Group released a master plan titled "Master Plan to 2020 and Beyond", covering the period up to 2050. This was followed up with a number of consultation events across the region with both the public and business community, the airport then took all feedback into consideration before releasing a final draft in April 2014.[23][24]

Under the master plan, inclusive tour charter flights were axed as unprofitable.[22] The cornerstone of the master plan is a housing estate which will raise up to £30m to be reinvested back into the airport under a 'Section 106' agreement.[25] This resulted in heavy opposition from the local public who misinterpreted the development as being at the expense of the airport, which had long been the subject of a conspiracy theory claiming the facility was deliberately being run down for closure. The houses received outline planning permission on 29 March 2017.[26]

On 18 May 2017, Durham Tees Valley Airport announced significant investment to the airport's terminal facilities. Alongside extensive renovations in the departures area, improved retail services were introduced under the new 'Xpress' brand. The first phase of investment was completed in September 2017, with the second phase starting in Autumn 2017. The airport's Privilege Membership Club also faced improvements for passenger service upgrades.[27]

Later in May 2017, Durham Tees Valley Airport also introduced a new ground handling service called Consort Aviation. Ground handling services are provided for general aviation, cargo and military aircraft.[28]

During November 2017, the airport launched its Flying For The Future campaign to try and build support towards the airport and encourage more people to use the facility.[29]

On 4 December 2018, the Mayor of the Tees Valley Ben Houchen announced a £40 million deal had been agreed to buy Peel Airport's 89% majority shareholding in Durham Tees Valley Airport (made up of £35m for the airport and £5m for land with planning permission for 350 houses) which if approved would bring the airport back into public ownership for the first time since it was sold to Peel in 2003. Purchasing the airport was Houchen's primary election pledge in his campaign in the 2017 Tees Valley mayoral election. The deal would be completed subject to ratification from the leaders of the five local authorities that made up the Tees Valley Combined Authority who were to vote on the deal in January 2019 at a purpose emergency TVCA meeting called by the Mayor. An established airport operator thought to be the Stobart Aviation had been lined up to run the facility.[30][31]

Should the Mayor's plan to buy back the airport be approved by TVCA, Houchen said he planned to give local residents the opportunity to decide whether to change the airport's name back to Teesside International Airport.[32] An online poll was conducted in December 2018 with the option of continuing with the Durham Tees Valley name or reverting to the airport's former name of Teesside International. Of the 14,000 people who took part, 93% voted for the name to revert to Teesside International.[33]

On 24 January 2019, the plan was unanimously voted in favour of by the six TVCA leaders, bringing the airport back under public ownership after 16 years in the private sector.

On 14 March 2019, the Mayor held a press conference at the airport confirming Stobart Aviation as the new airport operator. Stobart will invest in a 25% stake in the new holding company with the TVCA owning the majority 75% (it is expected that prior to this the individual local authority shares will be transferred across to the TVCA).[34]

The takeover came at a time the airport was back on the rise, the 2017 terminal refurbishment was fuelling growth in passenger numbers, Peel had invested in a new £3.5m radar system which went live in 2021,[35] and they had "one of the largest increases in flights at the airport since the financial crash in 2007" lined up from "two major holiday companies", which the Mayor blocked in favour of using the start-up subsidies on solicitors and consults for the takeover instead.[36] The airport announced a new summer holiday route to Majorca for the 2020 summer season[37] and the renewal of the 2019 Burgas route also for 2020.[38]

On 25 July 2019, the airport was rebranded back to Teesside International Airport, the name it operated under between 1987 and 2004.[39][40][41][42]

In 2020 flights to multiple destinations where announced by Eastern Airways to London City, Cardiff, Southampton, Isle of Man, Dublin, Belfast, and Aberdeen.[43] A route to Newquay was also added.[44] By November, these routes were cancelled.[45][46] The airline also scheduled flights to Alicante which were also cancelled.[47]

On 7 August, after over a decade, Loganair announced daily flights to Heathrow.[45]

On 27 October, TUI announced a summer service to Majorca starting in May 2022.[48]

On 25 November, Ryanair announced two flights a week to Palma de Mallorca and Alicante from June 2021.[49]

On 16 December 2020, a terminal refurbishment was announced including a second lounge, cafe and bar facilities, both landside and airside, as well as opening up previously closed areas.[50]

In the 3 March 2021 Government's annual budget announcement, the Tees Valley region was awarded Freeport status as well as Treasury North at Darlington. Both expect to have long term benefits for the airport, since it is included as part of the freeport and the Department for International Trade followed the Treasury in moving to Darlington.[51]

On 23 April 2021, It was announced that the £6.00 passenger facility fee would be scrapped.[52] On 12 May 2021 it was announced that duty-free shopping would return to the airport after an eight-year absence. World Duty-Free are set to open a shop in the terminal later in 2021, as part of a 12-year deal with the airport.[53]

On 7 February 2022, new details of a proposed Teesside Airport business park were revealed. The proposal will see the new facility open on the southside of the airport, with the first phase of four new units along a through road completed by summer 2022. A new 1.5km A67 link road, running direct to the southside area will also be constructed leading to the creation of a new roundabout close to Wilkinson’s Plant Centre.[54] A new multimillion-pound freight cargo handling facility has also recently been established at the airport as part of a wider programme of development.[55]

The airport saw strong growth from 1993 to 2006, when passenger numbers peaked at 917,963. Passenger numbers then declined steeply in the subsequent four years due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010. Passenger numbers continued to fall to a low of 130,911 (2017 figures), before showing small increases in 2018 and 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic. Freight volumes have slowly declined since 2000, to effectively zero tonnage by 2010.[3]

With the airport back under public ownership in 2019, new holiday destinations have subsequently been announced. Combined with the "core" business flights currently operating out of the airport, the long-term hope is of pushing passenger numbers beyond 1.4m in the next decade by attracting a low cost airline.[64]

Traffic statistics at Teesside International Airport[3]

Year	Passengers handled	Passengers handled % change	Aircraft movements	Aircraft movements % change	Freight (tonnes)	Freight % change
2000	746,983		54,625		3,145
2001	733,617	1.7	58,494	7.0	2,076	33.9
2002	671,131	8.5	52,276	10.6	1,016	51.0
2003	704,269	4.9	51,976	0.5	1,092	7.4
2004	788,382	11.9	49,529	4.7	484	55.6
2005	900,035	14.1	51,714	4.4	363	25.0
2006	917,963	1.9	55,788	7.8	459	26.4
2007	743,727	18.9	57,515	3.0	790	72.1
2008	654,192	12.0	45,310	21.2	290	63.2
2009	289,464	55.7	25,208	44.3	356	22.7
2010	224,673	22.3	20,756	17.6	0	100.0
2011	192,410	14.3	20,879	0.5	3	nm
2012	166,251	13.5	17,938	14.0	0	100.0
2013	161,092	3.1	18,298	2.0	0
2014	142,379	10.3	17,940	1.9	2	nm
2015	140,902	1.0	18,702	4.2	0	100.0
2016	132,369	6.1	21,162	13.2	8	nm
2017	130,911	1.1	19,668	7.1	4	50.0
2018	142,080	8.5	16,950	13.8	1	75.0
2019	150,735	6.1	16,746	1.2	0	100.0
2020	38,540	74.4	12,731	24.0	8	nm
2021	78,520	103.7	18,013	41.5	0	100.0

Arriva North East operates a bus service (No.12) that runs from Hurworth and Darlington to the airport six times per day.[66][67] The extension of the service to the urban centre of Teesside east of the airport however, has been withdrawn as a result of cancellation of Stockton Council financial support.

The airport is situated off the A67 and is near the A1(M), A19 and A66 corridors. A significant upgrade to complete a fast link direct to the airport from the A66 was completed in 2008.[68]

Teesside Airport railway station is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from the airport terminal (around 15 minutes walk). The station was served by two trains per week until December 2017 when the service was reduced to just one train every Sunday.[69] The airport is exploring the possibility of using more shuttle buses and "horizontal escalators" to boost patronage at the station in the future.[70]

Currently, Dinsdale railway station about 2 miles (3.2 km) away in the nearby village of Middleton St George is the closest station with regular passenger services.

Taxis are available directly outside the airport terminal.