Europe's largest regional airline has said it will consider a new route from Teesside to Aberdeen following a Facebook campaign.
Low-cost airline Flybe has said a potential service from Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) to Aberdeen International Airport was “certainly something we will consider” after Teesside based off-shore workers set up a Facebook campaign petitioning the airline to provide the service.
The Facebook community page “Flybe to make flights available from Aberdeen to Durham Tees Valley” describes itself as a “page for Flybe to look at to show how many people would use the service for flights to and from Aberdeen airport and Durham Tees Valley Airport”.
The page currently has 2,198 likes and hundreds of comments from Teesside based off-shore workers.
DTVA already operates a service to Aberdeen International with Eastern Airways, but with a single one-way ticket costing more than £200, oil workers from Teesside began the Facebook page to petition Flybe to run a low-cost flight between the two destinations.
Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, operates a similar service from Leeds Bradford Airport to Aberdeen International with tickets priced around £62.
One comment from Cieran Chidzey said: “I’ve been using the Leeds - Aberdeen service since it started in October. I feel it's good value for money.
“It is a little frustrating though that I have to drive to Leeds and leave the car there, when I’m only a few miles from Teesside Airport.
Cieran added that if Flybe began to offer a DTVA to Aberdeen service “it will be a very popular service, there’s definitely no shortage of customers.”
Off-shore medic Michael O’Brien said: “Needs to be done, everyone I know in the Teesside area says if there was a reasonably priced flight they would use it.”
After becoming aware of the campaign, Flybe’s director of communications, Andrew McConnell, said: “Flybe has a disciplined approach to the routes it operates, which means we continually review our network to ensure that we offer the right choice of destinations to our customers.
“However, we have no immediate plans to launch this route, but it’s certainly something we will consider.”
DTVA declined to comment.
Airport owners Peel Holdings last year set out a £56m investment programme to improve facilities "in order to attract both new airlines and additional passengers".
Bosses have previously said building hundreds of homes on the site would generate cash for investment into the airport.
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