This month’s meeting was held on Wednesday 16th October in the airport terminal, and we had a special presentation from Phil Forster – the new Head of Airport Development for Teesside International Airport.
Phil’s presentation has been given a number of times recently, to local press, businesses and the airport’s Consultative Committee. He gave us a bespoke version to bring the Friends group up to date on what has been happening at the airport, and what exciting prospects are in store.
We can’t publish a lot of what was said as it is commercially sensitive (you’ll have to attend meetings if you want to find out!). But we can assure you it was a very interesting talk and we’re more excited than ever about the prospects for Teesside International Airport.
Phil’s role is to develop business at the airport from airlines and freight operators, passengers using the facilities, and all other aspects of what the airport does on a day-to-day basis. He confirmed that there are many discussions ongoing with airlines and other operators, and soon he’ll be attending the AviaDev conference in Valencia to try and sell the great opportunitiesat our airport.
I think the group were most impressed by just what an opportunity is present here. Phil’s interesting statistics and the opportunities he detailed with such enthusiasm highlighted the real potential Teesside International has, not just in terms of developing holiday routes, but in becoming a thriving airport attracting both inbound and outbound visitors for many different purposes.
New Meeting Times
This was the first meeting at the new time. In the past we usually met on a Friday night, but this wasn’t useful for having members of the airport staff and management join us. So with this new time – the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 6.30pm – we’re hoping to be able to welcome these members to come and give us updates more often.
Our thanks go to Phil Forster and Shaun Woods for attending our meeting and giving us an update, and confirming that they still value the input Friends of Teesside International Airport can (and will) have going forward.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 13th November at 6.30pm in the terminal conference room.