Big drop in passengers at Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley
09.10.08
The turmoil affecting the airline industry has been 'thrown into sharp focus' with passenger numbers at the North East’s two main airports - Durham Tees Valley and Newcastle Airport - showing a steep fall during the summer, the Northern Echo reports.
Figures obtained by the newspaper show that during the summer peak of June - August Newcastle Airport was used by 1,677,281 passengers – down 10 percent on last year’s figure of 1,864,278. Durham Tees Valley Airport had 221,243 passengers, an average drop over the three months of 19 percent on last year’s figure of 274,315.
A spokeswoman for Newcastle Airport said the Government’s doubling of air passenger duty in February had ‘significantly impacted’ on demand for flights during the past 18 months. He said: We are concerned that Government plans to introduce a new aviation duty tax will just make things worse at regional airports.'
Durham Tees Valley owner Peel Airports told the newspaper that a move by holiday company Thomson to cut weekly flights from DTVA from 13 to six – a decision taken early last year – was largely behind the fall in passenger numbers. But it admitted the general economic uncertainty over the aviation industry was continuing to make life tough.
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