I’ve asked this in another thread, but didn’t get a response.
Being a Teessider, I’ve always struggled to understand why Teesside Airport isn’t more popular than it is. The reason I say this is its location; it is in the middle of LBA and NCL and would be a prime airport for new routes.
With the exception of the Dublin Ryanair flights and the new Stanstead flights from NCL, there are no low cost operations in the North. Given the fact that low-cost activity is minimal at LBA and NCL, why aren’t airlines trying to work out of MME as it would capture a pretty good radius? I’m sure Easyjet, Ryanair or Go would do decent business from MME. I work in a couple that does a lot of business travel and it is very frustrating at having to travel to NCL or LBA (or even worse MAN) when we have a great little airport on our doorstep.
Of the Charter Airlines, only MYT seem to be committed, yet, Britannia have an aircraft based at Liverpool just a few miles away from Manchester.
Does anyone have any opinions on this or am I naively biased?
By: EGNM - 17th July 2002 at 10:26
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
Many pax may well use the field for connection flights – i know BA market all of their routes thru NM as connection flights – i.e. ABerdeen to Southampton Thru NM and this is a major player – but MME doesn’t have this either – to be honest i can never see it taking off
By: Pembo330 - 17th July 2002 at 07:24
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
OK, I understand that there would be little point putting in new competing routes to NCL and LBA because their proximity would mean there is little demand.
My point still remains though about new routes. If a new route or a low cost airline was to base itself in the North East, then with no competition existing from either LBA or NCL in this market, surely choosing a base between the two would encourage PAX from a wider area; i.e. South of Leeds up to the North of Newcastle?
By: EGNM - 16th July 2002 at 20:43
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
Well such as NM doesn’t actually have a based JMC flight, BUT we have 10 charters a week on their behalf – so that’s MYT, BY and JMC (all have bases at newcastle too).
By: T5 - 16th July 2002 at 20:01
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
I agree with what others have said. With LBA and NCL nearby, there is little need for more flights from the north.
I’ve just had a glimpse at the Teesside Airport website (http://www.teessideairport.com/) and I’m wondering if there was any need for this airport in the first place with other airports in the area.
Between 05:10hrs and 20:10hrs tomorrow, there are scheduled flights arriving from this destinations:
Amsterdam
Heathrow
Dublin
Aberdeen
MyTravel is also flying in from Larnaca and Tenerife. It doesn’t really serve much of a purpose – perhaps it could be the main hub for charter airlines in the UK, one where you only see Britannia, MyTravel, Excel, JMC etc opposed to the larger airlines BMI, KLM UK etc. (??) hmm… maybe not.
By: mongu - 16th July 2002 at 17:49
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
The choice of airport by low cost operators has little to do with location. They’re famous for flying to fields a hundred miles from anywhere.
One of the major factors is the airport costs – or more tellingly, the amount of money an airport is prepared to pay to attract low cost carriers. This can be through low landing/parking fees, or through “marketing support”.
Teesside is in a reasonable enough location. It’s only a short drive for most of Teeside and is kind of local for North Yorkshire too – towns like Great Ayton or even the Whitby area.
The low level of activity there probably has a lot to do with my second paragraph – financial incentives.
By the way – I used to fly from Teesside to LHR a lot, when I was a kid. My Dad always used to tell me that the nearby hotel was haunted. Any comment? Flights were BM, usually Viscounts or DC-9’s if we were lucky!
By: Benair316P - 16th July 2002 at 16:20
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
You say the Teeside is inbetween NM and NT and then say it is a prime location for new routes……why? Because its inbetween the two doesnt make it a prime loocation..NM and NT swallow all the traffic up and Teeside simply operates in the shadow of its bigger brothers. Like I said in the other thread…if the demand was there…Airlines would operate…and vice versa. I see Teeside as another Sheffield..its just Sheffield started too late. It would be nice to see Teeside expand but, I can’t see it happening with the majors. Possibly Eastern though, as EGNM pointed out.
Regards
Ben
By: EGNM - 16th July 2002 at 16:09
RE: Why isn’t Teesside bigger than it is?
Well to b honest there is not enough demand campaerd to the likes of Liverpool – Newcastle and Leeds both have regular BY based a/c and Humberside has regular visits – newcastle basically will take nearly all your traffic – other the Co Durham immidiate area there is not a lot around which isn’t also in the EGNM/EGNT/EGNJ/EGCC area.
British Midland have been a long time commited on the LHR route, but look at LBA and MAN hub – even LBA has 1 733 and 4 Embs based with regular F100 flights – and manchester has even more with EMA not much further south.
All the basic routes are served from Leeds or Newcastle and demand is minimal at MME so the only other expansion i could see would be by current operater Eastern – other then them and their J32 is there only the bmi 735, KLM UK F50, FR 732 and MYT A320?
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July 16, 2002 at 3:21 pm