"UK: Region's Airports Open Up to an Ever-Expanding World of Travel"

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Region's Airports Open Up to an Ever-Expanding World of Travel 
United Kingdom - The Journal

 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne - The sky would seem to be the limit for the
North-East's two international airports as both pursue ambitious
expansion plans. Howard Walker reports. 
 
Airtravel has been revolutionised in recent years with the advent of
low-cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair ( and the North- East's
airports have not been slow in catching up. 

Both Newcastle International and Teesside International airports have
expanded to capitalise on the increased demand for flights. 

And the region's growing reputation as a hub for international flights
has opened up a host of new opportunities for North-East businesses as
well as a range of new destinations for its holidaymakers. 

It has also helped to lessen the difficulties caused by the North-
East's location and relative paucity of transport links. 

Newcastle International Airport has benefited greatly from the arrival
of budget airline easyJet in April last year with passenger numbers
rising from 3m in 2002 to 4m in 2003. 

EasyJet now flies to 12 European destinations from Tyneside and plans
flights to Norway, Sweden and Finland by 2005. 

It wants to double its number of flights from Newcastle within five
years and its plans to double its fleet at Newcastle from five to 10 by
2009 follow what it calls unprecedented demand in the region. 

EasyJet commercial director Mike Cooper said: "The response to services
in Newcastle has surpassed our expectations. 

"We were unsure how the North-East would respond to budget flights, but
the region's new prosperity means the market has responded well." 

As well as providing cheap flights for the region's travellers, the
airline has carried an estimated 250,000 visitors to the North- East ( a
significant boost for the local economy. 

Newcastle Airport itself has big plans. It is ploughing pounds 7m into
the operation this year as it looks to increase passenger numbers to a
record five million in 2004 as tour operators and low cost operators
commit to more flights and some new destinations. 

It is rebranding itself Newcastle International Airport, introducing a
new logo and doubling the size of the departure lounge, with improved
shopping and catering. 

Tie Rack, Claire's Accessories, Burger King and Cafe Ritazza will open
their own outlets and electrical retailer Dixons is to open a tax-free
store for those flying outside the European Union. 

The airport believes the new facilities will be filled by passengers
flying out to one of 72 airports in no less than 19 countries. 

Seven new airports have been added to those available from Newcastle for
2004 and many existing destinations will be much better served. 

Tour operators First Choice, Thomson and Thomas Cook have all increased
capacity at Newcastle this summer. Thomas Cook is doubling its number of
flights from Newcastle and basing a second 757 aircraft there this year.


Thomson is offering three new destinations among an increase of 14,000
new places. 

First Choice has added five destinations in Greece, Bulgaria and
Portugal and Greece specialists Kosmar will operate its own aircraft
from Newcastle for the first time, with three new destinations. 

The airport has already announced new flights to South Africa by tour
operator CT2. 

John Parkin, chief executive of Newcastle Airport, said: "This is the
start of a major period of growth and change that will deliver one of
the fastest growing and most successful airports in the UK. 

"Delivering great service and giving our customers what they want is the
key to getting them to fly from Newcastle again and again." 

Newcastle Airport's commercial director Mike Luddy said: "We see
ourselves as very much part of these exciting times in the North- East.
Passengers should never need to travel from any other airport." 

Newcastle International has even more ambitious plans for the next
decade. It has unveiled a masterplan to take it forward to 2016, when
the number of passengers using it is expected to have risen to 9.5m with
the number of flights rising from around 50,000 to 90,000 per year. 

It plans 16 new stands for planes, in addition to the 23 already
available, and that will probably mean an expansion of the terminal. 

Extra car parking, a new hotel and petrol station are planned, with
improvements to the Metro station and public transport interchange at
the airport. 

More businesses could also relocate to office development space near the
airport, the masterplan says, attracted by the location, "a hub of
surface and air transport". 

While some disquiet has been voiced about the potential environmental
impact of the envisaged expansion, airport planning manager Graeme Mason
said: "We are committed to sustainable growth, which respects the needs
of our local communities, meets all regulatory requirements and
mitigates against environmental impacts." 

The airport has already held a series of consultation meetings about the
plans with local residents. 

Teesside International Airport is going through a similar series of
changes ( the most noticeable so far being the decision to rename it
Durham Tees Valley Airport as part of a major rebranding exercise. 

Managing director Hugh Lang said the name change was "an important step
forward in the creation of an airport in which we can all feel proud". 

He said airlines using the airport ( including bmi, bmibaby, KLM and
Ryanair ( had all given strong backing for the rebranding as an
important element in expanding services and attracting more passengers.
The main plank of this expansion is a pounds 20m investment programme
over the next five years. 

This was made possible after the airport struck a strategic partnership
deal with Peel Airports, part of Manchester-based Peel Holdings, which
already runs the fast-growing Liverpool John Lennon Airport. 

Freeing up the airport from local authority ownership has enabled it to
access the private sector funding needed to carry out the expansion,
which will see pounds 7.5m spent in the first three years. 

Mr Lang said: "We were unable to borrow the capital we needed to expand
the airport and funding from the Government was insufficient. 

"It became clear that we needed a strategic partner to take it forward.
After detailed discussions with the local authority partners it was
agreed that we should bring in an investor." 

Work has started on a new access road to the terminal, which is due to
be completed by August and which will create a greater "sense of
arrival" to passengers. 

The car park is also being improved, upgraded and expanded ( increasing
the number of spaces by 400 to 2,000 ( and a new coach parking area is
being provided. 

Inside the terminal, the arrivals hall has been refurbished, retail
outlets developed and around pounds 100,000 spent to provide greater
automation at check-in desks to increase capacity to 1,200 bags an hour
from 900. 

All this has been designed to help boost passenger numbers from 750,000
last year to 1.2m in 2004, the largest number the airport's current
capacity can handle. It has several plans to cope with a further
expected expansion of passenger numbers. 

A new departure hall will be created, extending the number of check-in
desks from 18 to 24 with capacity for a further 12, doubling the current
capacity to 36. 

The new departure hall will eventually be developed as a completely new
terminal for the airport. 

Like Newcastle Airport, much of the current expansion is coming from the
booming budget airline sector. 

Last June, Teesside clinched a major deal with no-frills carrier
bmibaby, adding discount flights to Belfast, Malaga and Geneva with at
least another three routes added in 2004. 

The arrival of bmibaby has already exceeded targets in terms of numbers
of passengers snapping up tickets. 

And the routes from Teesside to Geneva and Malaga are two of the best
selling on the bmi network. 

Mr Lang said: "It's been very successful, and once we have aircraft
operating exclusively from Teesside, that will make a big difference to
the number of locations and flights we can run." 

Increasing the number of flights which people in the North-East take is
key to Teesside and Newcastle's expansionist agenda. 

At the moment, people in the region currently only use, on average, 0.8
of a flight per year, while in Scotland the figure stands at 2.4, and in
the US it is four flights per year. 

Mr Lang said that even if people in the North-East became as mobile as
the Scots, that would represent the sector tripling in size ( without
even considering inbound customers ( and he believes Teesside is ideally
placed to take advantage of the increase. 

He said: "The beauty of this airport is that it has population on all
sides, where Newcastle hardly has any population to the north. 

"We have more people within an hour's drive of us than Newcastle does,
and people are crossing boundaries between catchment areas as prices
fall. We estimate we will have 3m passengers by 2015 and 6m by 2030. 

"The site can handle 10m passengers a year and the government believes
we will have 32pc of the market by 2030, up from 16pc now." 

As in the plan for Newcastle, the expansion of the airport is set to
bring more jobs to Teesside. 

Figures show 1,000 jobs are created for every 1m passengers attracted to
use the airport and 650 people already depend on it for their living. 

Peel Holdings is also investing in a business park to the south side of
the airport, developing it in partnership with Tees Valley Regeneration,
English Partnerships, regional development agency One NorthEast, and the
six local authority shareholders. 

While environmental campaigners remain uneasy about the prospect of both
the region's airports expanding at a rapid rate, the trend looks set to
give a real boost to the North-East economy and help to put it on the
international map.


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