All business class flights between Durham Tees Valley and Heathrow?
11.05.09
A new airline is poised to reconnect Durham Tees Valley Airport with Heathrow within a couple of months, The Northern Echo reports, with the flights set to be all business class. Excelsis Airways is hoping to offer three round trips a day on the route from early July. The news comes two months after bmi axed its service to Heathrow, causing an outcry from business groups and MPs, who see the link as vital to the prosperity of the region.
The Northern Echo reports that Excelsis hopes to charge in the region of £220 return, and will target the business market, offering quick check-in and chauffeur-driven transport at either end. Spokesman Peter Troy told the newspaper: ‘This has been many years in the planning. It is an exciting project for the business community of the North- East. We very much hope everything will be ready for an inaugural flight in early July.’
Excelsis has been formed by an American who was in the US Air Force and then became a British Airways executive. Before settling in County Durham, he worked in US internal flights. The airline is leasing a Boeing 737-300 plane, which can normally seat up to 140 passengers, but because it is offering an up-market service, the capacity will be about 44.
Because the service will be classed as a private chartered flight, it is hoped to avoid the long check-in queues that usually more than double the 50-minute flying time. The new airline hopes to expand its service to six round trips a day, and then to create a triangular service between DTV, Heathrow and London City Airport. There are also longer term plans to fly businessmen a to European capitals.
A spokesman for the airport confirmed it was in negotiations with a number of airlines to restart the route.
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