Airport not considering a name change
04.05.09
Calls for Durham Tees Valley Airport to revert back to its original name have been rejected by the airport’s owners, the Gazette reports. The name Teesside Airport lasted for 40 years, but was changed in 2004 after budget airline Bmibaby pushed for a more marketable brand which incorporated a city name. The budget airline then controversially pulled its planes out of the North-east two years later.
Despite having been called Durham Tees Valley for nearly 5 years, many people still refer to it as Teesside Airport - as do major travel websites such as ebookers, lastminute.com and Travel Republic. Most other websites still include both names, and many of the region’s road signs are also still to be altered.
When the name was changed, Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Dave Walsh criticised the re-branding, but was outvoted by his fellow councillors. He told the newspaper: ‘I think in retrospect, my concerns have been proved correct. I still think the re-branding was a mistake.'
‘The airport was given its Teesside name for a very good reason - because the name Teesside is familiar to businessmen and engineers across the world. Perhaps given the loss of flights recently, Peel Airports might want to re-think it. I’d be happy with that because that’s how the airport is known throughout the world.’
However, Peel Holdings confirmed that there are no plans for change. A spokesman said: ‘The Airport is not considering changing its name back to Teesside Airport.’ Rebranding costs a considerable amount of money and time, and we would suspect in the current trading environment, the airport has neither to spare.
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