Iconic Visitors to Teesside

Teesside International Airport in all of it’s forms has been blessed with some very special visitors over the years. Here we look at some of the rarest and most interesting aircraft and airlines to grace our region’s skies.

The Avro Lancaster and English Electric Lightning are two of the most iconic aircraft ever designed, the latter arguably the single best piece of global engineering let alone British engineering! Yet they could be found here at Teesside in large numbers at one time or another, so to find those rarities that draw the crowds and go down in history, we need to begin quite far into the airports journey in the early 1980s.

1981

The first Boeing 747 to visit Tees-Side, almost 12 years after the type’s entry into service, occurred when we received two British Airways examples on the 10th and 11th December. They arrived on diversions from London Heathrow due to freezing fog in the south east. Each stayed 24 hours, the first arriving from Dhahran via Brussels and departing direct back to Dhahran; the second came from Miami and positioned empty back to Heathrow. It is reported a quick-thinking individual had a London-bound train divert to the airport station to collect the passengers!

1982

The first Concorde to visit Tees-Side, this time just under seven years since entry into service. It operated a special charter from Heathrow and back again on 11th December (proving to be a good date for the airport!) with a supersonic pleasure flight to the Artic Circle in-between!

The next iconic ‘debut’ would not be until 1996, but between now and then we were treated to no less than eight further 747 and Concorde visits.

Many people are aware of the reputation of Polam Hall school in Darlington, and we have been known to receive visits from private jets from Arabic countries with Sheikh’s wanting their daughters to receive nothing but the best in education! And these were not just any private jets – almost always converted airliners! The first example takes us to 29th June 1986 when the Dubai Air Wing called in with a Boeing 747SP, a mini version of the Jumbo Jet. It returned a week later to collect the students.

Two months later on 23rd August 1986 Concorde returned for a second visit, this time taking part in that year’s air show static display.

Skipping to the turn of the decade now, and the annual Christian pilgrimage to Lourdes was a regular source of Boeing 747s, although sadly nowadays the loads are split into two smaller aircraft (which is better for the airport in terms of landing and parking fees I suppose). On 25th May 1990 Air France called in for the pilgrims, bringing them back a week later. Many of you will be familiar with the famous Teesside International Airport postcard which shows the behemoth aircraft parked in front of the terminal.

Teesside has always benefited from Catterick Garrison being within our catchment area and this has also produced some 747s over the years, the first such example being 30th March 1991 when KLM Royal Dutch Airlines gave us our first -200B series. It returned the next day, both times coming from Athens and positioning out empty back to Amsterdam.

30th April 1995 saw our third and final visit from Concorde on another supersonic charter. The aircraft came in from Leeds Bradford, stayed the night and returned there the next day.

1996

9th March 1996 saw the first visit of another behemoth of the sky – the Antonov An-124 Ruslan cargo transporter. The aircraft brought in a 20 tonne pressure vessel for Amoco at Seal Sands from Houston, Texas. The aircraft weighed in at 392 tonnes!

May and June of 2000 saw the return of the 747 on that year’s Lourdes charters, and then in 2002 the MOD was once again responsible for a short series, with flights from Calgary, Alberta on 11th, 16th and 28th October.

16th October 2002 – Near disaster!

At 07:36 on 16th October 2002, an Air Atlanta Icelandic Boeing 747-200B registered TF-ATD, operating an MOD charter from Calgary, landed heavily just short of the south-westerly end of the runway, and suffered a tail-strike in the process. Airport staff at the time are still amazed to this day that the aircraft made the “Bravo” runway exit without having to do a 180 degree turn and back-track! After receiving a quick fix, the aircraft departed on the 28th to Amsterdam to receive more elaborate repairs!

24th February 2003 saw the second visit of an Antonov An-124, this time to collect cargo bound for the East. It came in from Baku but had to divert to Manchester due to fog, returning to Teesside later that day. It departed to Ostend-Bruges, the first stop on a much longer journey. May 2003 saw the return of a repaired TF-ATD, this time on a Lourdes charter, then 30th October saw the first of eight MOD charters in just over a two-week period using four aircraft, all -200B series, three from UK charter specialist European Aviation Air Charter, but the first on the 30th October was by Air Plus Comet of Spain. They mostly came in from Akrotiri, Cyprus and departed to Basrah, Iraq. 2003 was a record for 747s at Teesside overall, but November on its own would have been anyway thanks to the above mentioned flights. However, it was the 21st of the month that takes the all-time crown of any aircraft movements at Teesside…

21st November 2003 – the U.S. Presidential visit

As most of you are no doubt aware, in November 2003 the then-U.S. President George W. Bush visited the UK on an official State visit, which I believe is just a posh way of saying holiday (or vacation given he’s American!). Having struck up a strong friendship with our then-Prime Minister Tony Blair (regardless of what your opinion of him may be, having a PM who’s constituency sat within the airport’s catchment area was of huge benefit), George Bush paid him a visit at Sedgefield – which of course brought him into Teesside, where they enjoyed Fish and Chips in a local pub, albeit cooked by the President’s own personal chefs!

The operation was massive and as far as aircraft movements were concerned, it began on 7th October and ended on 29th June 2004 when a U.S. Navy C-130 Hercules called in to collect an aircraft tug! Other than the two Boeing 747-200Bs operating as Air Force One and Two (not called 747s by the U.S. Air Force, but rather “VC-25A’s”), the U.S. Air Force dominated proceedings, with the U.S. Navy in almost equal number, followed by the U.S. Marine Corps, Royal Air Force, and a singular United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER carrying journalists. Short of a serving U.S. President finding reason to return, never will this event be surpassed in terms of scale.

May and June of 2004 saw the final (to date) 747s used on the Lourdes service, once again courtesy of TF-ATD. Next up came what was probably the second largest event after the U.S. Presidential visit – in fact, if you strip away all of the other aircraft it was actually bigger, with three 747s compared to the two of the U.S. Air Force!

10th May 2006 – Middlesbrough F.C. reach the UEFA Cup Final!

A huge airlift took place over the 9th, 10th and 11th May 2006 for the UEFA Cup Final game in Eindhoven between Middlesbrough F.C. and Seville, and whilst Middlesbrough lost, the airport very much won, with no less than 21 aircraft over the three days – with the bulk of activity on the 10th. We had widebodies holding on the taxiway waiting for other widebodies to vacate the stands! As far as 747s are concerned, we had three; two -300 series and one -400 which at the time was the most modern version. Both sub-types were making their respective debuts at Teesside. One -300 belonged to British charter operator Travel City Direct, the other -300 and the -400 to French charter operator Corsairfly. One might surmise the return of a U.S. President is the more likely event to be repeated in future!!

When it comes to exotic airlines, there are not only fewer but they are also harder to find. Whilst not an airline, we feel this visit by Roman Abramovich on 20th October 2007 to watch his Chelsea team play Middlesbrough qualifies. His widebody Boeing 767-300ER has been converted with a VIP interior. This was the only time he visited.

Skipping forward to 2008, the MOD were responsible for our third and (to date) final Antonov An-124 visit on 8th December when four Army Air Corps Lynx helicopters were flown in. Believed to be for the nearby AAC base at Dishforth where the Lynx were based at the time, they were actually noted going down the A1 past there! I got wind of this Antonov weeks beforehand from what was, on hindsight, a very Chinese-whispery source, and yet I shared the news via the Teesside Airport Movements website, and by the time the day came around we had still not had any kind of official confirmation – there were masses of spectators waiting for it – I dare say I might have had my head kicked in had it failed to show!!

Back to exotic airlines now and the MOD were responsible for a handful of visits from an Air Tahiti Nui Airbus A340-300, starting on 3rd October 2010.

Another troop charter saw a similar visitor in this Air Caraïbes Airbus A330-200 on 18th October 2011.

12th September the same year saw a vintage movement courtesy of the MOD in the shape of a Douglas DC-8 operated by U.S. airline National Air Cargo.

1st April 2012 saw the first visit of an Airbus A380 – or did it?! Note the date…the photo is a fake! Couldn’t resist throwing it in, sorry!

7th December 2013 and the latest inmates for former recycling company Sycamore Aviation arrived. These colourful Ukrainian turboprops would never normally see this part of the world and as such drew spectators from all over the country. The airport purchased one of the fuselages as a fire and rescue trainer and it can still be seen adjacent to the fire ground at the end of the disused cross-runway.

The only other known 747 movements to date were by our first freighter variant, a -400F, on the 4th and 5th November 2015, and again on 12th January 2016, when the first aircraft for new start-up CargoLogicAir used Teesside for crew training flights.

1st June 2019 saw an exotic Arabian visitor in SaudiGulf Airlines, but again all is not what it seems – the aircraft was operating our weekly Bulgaria charter. Balkan Holidays had recently leased the aircraft to SaudiGulf, who had recently returned it, but it had not yet been repainted.

The final noteworthy aircraft is another exotic airline visitor, and one that definitely takes the crown as far as airlines go! Fiji Airways sent their Boeing 737-700 to Willis Asset Management for parting out and recycling on 20th September 2020.

Whilst we believe the iconic aircraft to be covered in full, the exotic airlines all seem recent, which begs the question of what might have visited before everything was documented via the Internet and digital photography?! Either way, we look forward to the next ones, whenever they may turn up, and whatever they may be!

Now, who’s for an Airbus A380?! (That’s not been photoshopped!)

All photos via the Teesside Airport Movements website – www.teessideairportmovements.co.uk