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Durham Tees Valley Airport stands to recover millions of pounds in lost revenue, after defeating budget airline, BMIbaby, in a landmark legal battle. The carrier pulled its planes out of Durham in 2006, costing the airport ‘huge sums’ in retail profits and landing fees, and breaching a service contract with current owner, Peel Airports.

The ruling, which was made at the Appeals Court, entitles Durham to sue BMIbaby for upwards of £11,585,306 – a strange number, but one that reflects the amount of money the airport lost because of BMIbaby’s premature departure. The carrier will also be liable for an additional £1m in legal fees.

Airport bosses lamented the need to sue their former partner, claiming that BMI’s withdrawal was both avoidable and unnecessary, but Hugh Lang, director at Peel Airports, was pleased with the result, ‘Today's judgment totally vindicates the action we have been pursuing for the last three and a half years. We are very pleased that significant damages are now due to the airport to compensate us for our loss.’ The ruling represents a significant change of direction for the Appeals Court, which had criticised Durham’s ‘vague and uncertain’ contract terms in the past, and dropped all charges against BMIbaby.

The amount of money payable to Durham will now be decided by the High Court in the coming months. BMI intends to challenge the decision.

Durham's victory should bring some solace to other airports that have been dumped by budget airlines, such as Robin Hood and East Midlands. The two airports were abandoned by Ryanair and EasyJet respectively, late last year.

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Durham Tees Valley Airport is to make 32 staff members redundant in a bid to become “better and smarter".

The news, which forms part of a larger press release by Peel Airports Group, comes just days after East Midlands Airport announced heavy cuts to its security team, amounting to 30 different positions.

East Midlands has experienced a slump in passenger numbers over the past year, coupled with a reduction in the number of airlines flying from the airport. A good chunk of its workforce was simply unused and expendable.

Durham has a similar story to tell, but Peel wants to be able to spend more money on airport regeneration, rather than hiding it in bank vaults. The cash gleaned from the redundancies has already been earmarked for an ambitious construction project.

The existing terminal will be divided into two separate areas – one for regular travellers, and a second space reserved for premium customers. Peel cited a new Eastern Airways route to Southampton as ‘evidence’ that the proposals were already attracting new business.

Airport boss, Kerry Quinn, was optimistic, saying that the feedback received on the plans from partners and customers "has been resoundingly positive”. The airport will offer premium options all year round, but other services will be scaled according to market conditions.

Durham has also reduced its opening hours to 18 hours a day. The airport will now open at 4am and close at 10pm, but private aeroplanes will be accommodated if they wish to use the airstrip during the night.

Durham Tees Valley Airport have launched a lawsuit against the UK carrier BMI Baby, the budget arm of British Midland (BMI), after alleging that the airline has broken a contractual agreement with the airport.

According to the airport, BMI agreed in writing that, from 2003, they would make 30 flights a week from Durham Tees Valley to ten short-haul destinations. The airport claims that the airline agreed to transport passengers from the North-East airport using two Boeing 737 aircraft for ten consecutive years, paying fees based on passenger numbers. It is alleged, however, that shortly after the agreement was made, BMI began flying just one Boeing 737 from the airport each week, failing to ensure that the aircraft was full, before suspending the flights altogether late in 2006 (seven years before the contract was due to expire).

Durham Tees Valley, part of the Peel Airport Group, claims that by ending the routes before the contract was up BMI has caused the airport to lose £12,523,686 and it is now attempting to get compensation from the airline. BMI, the second largest carrier at Heathrow, has responded to the allegations, maintaining that it will not look to reach a compromise, but will “vigorously defend its position in court”.

The news follows a recent announcement that the airline's majority stakeholder, Sir Michael Bishop, is looking to sell his 50% share in British Midland before the end of the year. Lufthansa, who already holds 29% of the shares, has expressed an interest in buying the airline.

Last year, Teesside airport had its name changed to Durham Tees Valley airport as part of a three-year extensive redevelopment plan. The name change, which was accompanied by a redesign of the airport logo, marks a part of significant changes which are taking place at the airport.
Teesside airport's name was changed to Durham Tees Valley airport to represent these significant changes as they take place; it also serves to assist potential visitors to the area with locating the airport in terms of its location in the UK.
For more information and up-to-date news, visit the <a href="http://www.durhamteesvalleyairport.com/devel/press/index.shtml" target="blank">official news pages</a>.

BMIBaby operated the first flight between Durham Tees Valley and Newquay in June this year.
The flight was the first of many, with four flights a week planned to this popular holiday destination in Cornwall.

As a businesswoman, Kerry Quinn, began work yesterday as the airport’s new director, a major new expansion programme was well under way at Durham Tees Valley airport. Operators hope that this will significantly increase airport traffic over the next seven years. The expansion programme began in 2004 with a rebranding exercise, which saw the former Teesside airport being renamed Durham Tees Valley. The renaming took place to give the airport a greater sense of place, in recognition that Durham is better known than the Teesside area because of its cathedral and historic city centre.

Kerry Quinn will work alongside the director of Peel airport group, Hugh Lang, to put in place a number of strategies which it is hoped will increase airport traffic from an annual figure of 750,000 to 3 million passengers a year by 2015. Over the next seven years, the scheme will see the redevelopment of the airport’s structure, including the installation of airfield ground lighting, the building of a new business park and hotel and 4500 new car parking spaces. The proposals have also outlined plans to develop the internal facilities through terminal refurbishment, the upgrading of check-in and baggage handling systems and the improvement of the airport’s restaurants and shops. Another major part of the scheme is a heavy marketing campaign to attract travellers from Durham, Darlington and the Tees Valley area and to encourage airlines to set up more domestic and international services at the airport.

It is estimated that the expansion plans will cost in the region of £56 million to complete, but councillors are convinced that the project will be hugely beneficial for the region’s economy.