All business class flights to Heathrow planned
11.05.09
A new airline hopes 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 3 round trips a day on the route from early July. The news comes two months after bmi axed its Heathrow flights, 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 £220 return, and will target the business market, offering quick check-in and chauffeur-driven transport at either end. Airline 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 BA executive. Before settling in County Durham, he worked in US internal flights. The airline is leasing a Boeing 737-300 plane, which can seat up to 140 passengers, but because it is offering an up-market service, the capacity will be just 44.
The service will be classed as a private chartered flight, and 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 to create a triangular service between Durham Tees Valley, Heathrow and London City Airport.
A spokesman for the airport confirmed it was in negotiations with a number of airlines to restart the London route.
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