Annual Review
Teesside Airport Movements
Under New Management
From Chris:
I was humbled and privileged to inherit the Teesside Airport Movements website back in July, and I wish to take a moment to say a few words about what changes you can expect to see going forward, which in short is not much, since firstly “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and secondly just because I now pay the bills, it remains “yours/ours” rather than “mine” so it would be arrogant of me to dictate changes.
The website has a huge following and a lot of respect both within and outside of the community, something we’ve never taken for granted and I wouldn't want to risk compromising that. One thing we probably have taken for granted however is the provision of “live” movements – something that is more coincidence than intention and certainly we have never advertised the website as being “live”, yet the bar has been set and we have welcomed Teesside stalwart Aidan Williamson to the team to ensure continuity. On the rare occasion there are gaps in service, we still deliver 95% of pre-planned visitors long in advance.
Lastly, although he is not leaving the website, I would like to thank Dave A for not only creating the website all the way back in March 2007, but for pioneering the concept, and for having the wisdom to run it the way he has over the years – without opinion or politics. It took a while for both Dave’s to educate me as to the merits of not expressing opinion online when discussing the hobby, but nevertheless it is a key reason why the website is as respected as it is and I will be keen to maintain that.
For the last 10 years or more Dave would always joke he’d left the website to me in his Will – and he’s often hinted he would hand it over before then, but I still figured it was a good 10-15 years away and that some new technology would supersede the website before then! I will endeavour not to let him down, but more importantly, I will endeavour not to let you the audience down! Should you have any comments, suggestions or feedback (positive or negative) - our door is always open.
A comment from Dave A:
Over the years our relationship with the airport has helped to grow the website into becoming an invaluable source of information for enthusiasts and the public, offering not only a huge airport history section but a comprehensive and unrivalled source of accurate and up-to-date daily movements. Images from our ever growing group of photographers (great work, thanks as always to each and every one of you) are easily viewed and can be archived and viewed for many years to come. Our viewers are growing month by month and the many thousands of daily hits are not only from enthusiasts from the UK and around the world but from the local population who are interested in what they have seen, this provides the airport with a huge advert showing what is happening.
New Website
In last years review we teased the development of a new website, We’d be lying if we said this hadn’t proved a little more difficult than we had hoped and there are still kinks to be worked out. The key thing will be “can you get the same information you do now, from the page you immediately arrive at” and the answer will not only be “yes”, but there will be a higher level of reliability – no more “Forbidden - You don't have permission to access / on this server.” messages, or the movements list for some odd reason requiring three hours worth of downward scrolling before you get to them on certain browser set-ups! (Ironically, both issues believed now fixed!).
Friends of Teesside International Airport
FOTIA has kicked back into gear this year with a record number of new subscriptions and back in the practice of arranging trips and visits even if most fell through for reasons beyond our control. It was a little disturbing to learn earlier this year that in certain quarters FOTIA is considered to be a "clique" with a viewpoint that the airport "can do no wrong". There is of course zero truth to this.