Durham Tees Valley Airport has started charging passengers more to use its terminal.
From Monday 8th October, every departing passenger has to pay a “Passenger Facility Fee”. This is £6 for an adult, and £2 for children aged 3 to 15
Alas, this passenger facility fee isn’t built into the ticket price. So yes, it’s ANOTHER £6 a time if you want to depart from the airport.
So why not bundle the fee in? Simple – they want to keep the airlines there. If the airport fees raise, airlines will go away. Durham is vulnerable from above and below with Newcastle, Leeds or Manchester all within spitting distance of Durham Airport.
Durham airport Chief executive, Craig Richmond bleets the following excuse
“It’s a tough time when you see your passengers drop off between 30 and 40 per cent. I hope our customers will recognise that it is something we have to do.”
Actually, no I don’t. Either make the fees transparent and paid for in advanced, or give up. The way this is being done is akin to paying TWICE for the same privelage of flying from that airport.
Passenger Facility fees are also in use at Blackpool, Newquay and Norwich.
Durham Tees Valley Airport has released an FAQ. Which as is as interesting as watching paint dry.
Actually, paint drying is more interesting.
The other problem Durham has is the lack of operators who use it on a schedude basis. BMI used to send planeloads of up to 150 passengers a plane until BMI Revenue management managed to screw that up sufficiently and kill the route off by downsizing it from A320’s to ERJ-145’s.
Today, the most regular users are KLM and Eastern Airways, with Monarch Airlines, Thomson Airways, Onur Air running seasonal charters, and Aer Arann, Ryanair and Flybe running sometimes seasonal services.
Considering most of these are run with small aircraft by the schedule users, and varying aircraft by others, it’s not an extensively used field.
So I’m sorry you’re loosing money Durham Tees Valley Airport. Is it my problem that you’re extending the charge? No. Is it my problem that you haven’t planned for the future? No.
Is it my intention to even consider using you? What do you think the answer to that is?
