An interesting look back at the previous 12 months and the 12 months ahead.
AWARDS
We haven't had any stats pages on the website this year so I've had to compile some of the below awards from memory and photos and as such I may have overlooked some obvious choices.
Most interesting commercial aircraft
Winner:
UR-UTA/B - ATR-42-320 - UTair Ukraine
Even the most seasoned spotters would do well to nail a pair of Ukrainian turboprops unless, like with these two, they turned up at your local airport for decommisioning! They caused a huge buzz on arrival (no pun intended) and the demand to view them since has been overwhelming from both enthusiasts and the general public alike.
Runners-up:
UR-GAV - Boeing 737-4C9 - Ukraine International Airlines
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I-ADJS - Embraer ERJ-195-200LR - Air Dolomiti
Boeing 737s OM-SAA and SP-ENF are also worthy of a mention in a year where we did quite well for 'one-off' airliner visits.
Most interesting military aircraft
Winner:
VX281/VL-120 - Hawker Sea Fury T20 - Royal Navy Historic Flight
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To fully appreciate this one you had to be at the airport on the day, to see this vintage airframe perform a run-and-break / display at just 100ft was nothing short of a massive thrill. In a slightly humourous twist, there were several camera's waiting for it, but as they were aiming more at the 500ft mark, many a photo was missed!!
Runners-up:
G-VLCN/XH558 - Avro Vulcan B2 - Vulcan To The Sky Trust
ZE704 - Lockheed L-1011-500 TriStar C2 - Royal Air Force (216 Squadron)
ZE704 may not seem like an obvious choice, but with their imminent retirement this March, it's likely we'll not see another one! Others worthy of a mention were three French Air Force visitors; Embraer EMB-121AN Xingu "090/ZF", CASA CN-235M-200 "128/62-IK / F-RAIK" & Transall C-160R "R96/61-ZN".
Overall most interesting bizjet/prop
Winner:
M-URUS - Boeing 737-7GC/W BBJ1 - Corporate
Runners-up:
9H-FOM - Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 - Luxwing
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S5-BDG - Cessna 560XL Citation Excel - Linxair
A difficult decision as there's not a lot that stands out from the crowd, in the end size mattered with M-URUS taking the crown. Although we're a little less busy for biz than 2012, we're still as busy as ever, although we lack variety with the same aircraft visiting year-after-year, barely a day goes by without a visitor or two.
Most visited UK bizjet/prop was Aviation Beauport's C510 G-XAVB, with 28 visits and as you might imagine the most visited foreign aircraft was GLEX N288Z with 7 visits - although that's a 50% reduction on 2012.
Best colour scheme
Winner:
M-WINT - Pilatus PC12/47E - Air Winton
Runners-up:
LX-DCA - Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 - Serlux
EC-JON - Cessna 550 Citation II - Aerovalles
Once again not a lot stood out from the crowd, with some of the more creative corporate liveries scraping victory. ATR-42s UR-UTA/B are also worthy of a mention.
Overall best visitor
Winner:
UR-UTA/B - ATR-42-320 - UTair Ukraine
Takes the Gold Medal for the same reasons it won in the "Most interesting commercial aircraft" category. What's the betting Sycamore will deliver a winner again next year?!
Runners-up:
UR-GAV - Boeing 737-4C9 - Ukraine International Airlines
ZE704 - Lockheed L-1011-500 TriStar C2 - Royal Air Force (216 Squadron)
Although ironically they've dominated the awards this year, UR-GAV gets a mention because it's not very often a Ukrainian aircraft pitches up on our doorstep and once again, although not an obvious choice, ZE704 could be the last of a soon-to-be extinct breed.
Dropped categories:
Photographer of the Year
The same loyal individuals produce top quality results year after year making it too difficult to differentiate between them, plus this year a few of us have benefited from the unfair advantage of airside access. You know who you guys are so keep up the excellent work and keep those photos rolling in!
Ze Germans are coming!
(Don't mention the war!!)
There's no prize for working out which country sent us the most aircraft, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Germans have tried to invade again with this little lot:
D-BIKA - Dassault Falcon 2000EX - ACM Air Charter
D-BTEN - Cessna 750 Citation X - ACM Air Charter
D-BUBI - Bombardier BD-100-1A10 Challenger 300 - Windrose Air Jetcharter GmbH
D-CAAE - Gates Learjet 55 - FAI Air Service
D-CAPB - Cessna 560 Citation Encore+ - Aerowest GmbH
D-CAVA - Fairchild Swearingen SA-227AC Metro III - Bin Air
D-CAWB - Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign - Aerowest GmbH
D-CAWS - Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign - Aerowest GmbH
D-CBIN - Fairchild Swearingen SA-227AT Merlin IVC - Bin Air
D-CCCC - Fairchild Swearingen SA-227AT Merlin IVC - Bin Air
D-CFLY - Cessna 560XL Citation XLS+ - Air Hamburg Private Jets
D-CHAT - Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 - E-Aviation
D-CGRC - Gates Learjet 35A - Jet Executive International
D-CHIO - Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 - E-Aviation
D-CLEO - Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign - Corporate
D-CNAF - Fairchild Swearingen SA-227AC Metro III - Bin Air
D-CNAG - Fairchild Swearingen SA-227DC Metro 23 - Bin Air
D-CPSW - Fairchild Swearingen SA-227AC Metro III - Bin Air
D-CRON - Cessna 560XL Citation XLS - Jet Aviation Business Jets
D-CSAG - Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 - Corporate
D-CSLT - Bombardier Learjet 60 - FAI Air Service
D-CURA - Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3 - Triple Alpha
D-CXLS - Cessna 560XL Citation XLS+ - Air Hamburg Private Jets
D-EFWJ - Wassmer WA-54 Atlantic - Private
D-IAHT - Mitsubishi MU-2B-26A - Corporate
D-ICCC - Reims Cessna F406 Caravan II - Air Taxi Europe
D-IFEY - Cessna 525A CitationJet CJ2+ - Atlas Air Service
D-IHEB - Cessna 525 CitationJet CJ1 - Silver Cloud Air
D-INCS - Cessna 525 CitationJet CJ1 - Bizair Flug
D-IPCG - Cessna 425 Conquest I - Corporate
Trip Report of the Year
Winner:
Kevin Perry - "China & North Korea - The Final Frontier"
Who would ever have thought North Korea would host spotting trips! A very rare and unique report, I certainly wouldn't have had the nerve to do it, I'd have been too worried I'd never get back home to type up the report!
Runners-up:
Kevin Perry - "The Airshows that Never Were - USA part I & part II"
Ian Gordon - "Reykjavik, Iceland"
Mr Perry dominated the trip report category last year too, but his trips are simply too good to overlook. Ian Gordon takes third place as Iceland makes for another rarely visited country.
A YEAR IN PHOTOS
Click here to view our 2013 Photos page.
A YEAR IN NEWS
17/01/13: Durham Tees Valley Airport to launch new growth fund bid
Following the failure of the first bid for £5.9m in 2012, Peel decide to bid again for a reduced amount, £4.65m.
13/02/13: Durham Tees Valley airshow cancelled
After what can only be described as a heroic effort to bring back an air show for 2013, the event was reluctantly cancelled due to factors outside of the organisers control.
19/02/13: Durham Tees Valley aircraft recycling starts
Despite being on-site for over a year, Sycamore Aviation are finally unveiled to the press.
10/04/13: Plans approved for caravan park at Durham Tees Valley Airport
A section of the main car park is closed off for use as a caravan storage site, it's an eyesore, but at the end of the day it's extra income which cannot be ignored.
25/04/13: Thomson announces new destination from Durham Tees Valley
Thomson announce a new once weekly summer service to Ibiza.
10/05/13: More sunshine getaways announced for Durham Tees Valley Airport
Balkan Bulgarian announce a months trial to Bourgas during August 2014, with the intention of making it a summer seasonal route if it proves successful.
11/07/13: Durham Tees Valley fails in regional growth fund bid
Peels RGF bid is rejected once again.
26/07/13: Durham Tees Valley Airport duty free to close
The on-site duty free shop closes down after Peel decide not to renew their contract. We've recently learned a replacement shop should open during 2014.
27/08/13: Durham Tees Flight Training: Flying school lands acquisition to expand
Durham Tees Flight Training purchases the other on-site flying school, St George Flight Training, making it the largest flying school in the north east. In a further expansion, they've recently purchased a single CZAW PS-28 SportCruiser aircraft and hope to become the main UK dealership for the type.
30/08/13: Serco says it will invest in its fire safety centre at Durham Tees Valley Airport
Following the failure in the second RGF bid, of which Serco featured heavily in the plans, they decided to invest in their existing facilities instead.
17/10/13: Police helicopter to remain at Durham Tees Valley Airport for next five years
A new hangar for the Police helicopter is announced, something which has been discussed for years, although in recent weeks the steel framework has finally appeared.
30/10/13: Durham Tees Valley Airport confirms end of charter flights
Due to a £200 per passenger loss on charter flights, the airport decides to axe them and focus solely on scheduled routes.
17/11/13: Durham Tees Valley Airport plan promises 4,000 new jobs
Peel unveil a master plan for the airport, as with most UK airports, the plan includes both aviation and industrial development.
17/12/13: Cobham says it will make redundancies after moving services from Durham Tees Valley Airport
In a cost cutting exercise, Cobham decide to move their Flight Inspection division to Bournemouth.
NEW YEAR MESSAGE
Another typical year at DTVA where we've just about struggled by, passenger numbers down a little bit but still 'bottoming out' so probably not next year but certainly the year after we should start to see very small increases. 2013 saw the release of a master plan, covering the period from now up until 2020 and beyond, as expected, it was received with mixed reviews, partially thanks to some poor choices of headlines in the press, which focused on the housing estate which makes up a very small percentage of the plan and lies on land unsuitable for aviation development. Incidently, our view on the housing aspect of things is that our interest lies with the airport, and not the neighbouring villages, so until any such time that a housing development threatens the viability of the airport, we don't care, as harsh as that may sound.
Elsewhere in the press, the bad news outweighed the good, with the cancellation of FoDTVA's planned air show, due to circumstances outside of their control. A second RGF bid was rejected, although reports that Peel had submitted the same bid twice were completely false. Sad news emerged at the end of the year when we learned Cobham Flight Inspection plan to move out to Bournemouth with the King Airs and DA42 Twin Star. They don't account for many movements these days so again the damage is minimal and Cobham Aviation Services have stated they are here for the long term, but sad to see them go nontheless. The reason for the move is an internal cost cutting programme at Cobham.
Elsewhere, Sycamore continue to deliver the goods, having got over a six month 'lul', we've seen five aircraft this year, including their first widebody. Unlike most salvage firms who just seem to just deal with A320s and 737s, we seem to be getting a bit of all sorts which is good!
2014 PROSPECTS
Don't expect any miracles during 2014, the best we can hope for is that Peel press ahead with the master plan and that it doesn't just become yet another plan. The hangars adjacent to the terminal building are earmarked as one of the first areas to be built and we believe the planned use of the first one will be for executive aircraft such as Citations through to Global Express and Gulfstreams, but this is just rumour.
I also wouldn't expect any new route announcements during 2014, we all know charter flights are no more but as far as scheduled operators are concerned there are next to no candidate airlines in this country unless Eastern decide to consider further routes? Ryanair won't return as long as the PFF is in place and other than that there's only Virgin Atlantic Little Red, the airport should be all over them like a rash but I honestly can't see them expanding since their existing routes are carrying mostly fresh air. It will likely take a foreign operator to prove me wrong!!
Passenger numbers will see another slight drop due to the axing of charter flights, but these made up just 10k passengers so the damage is minimal and it will only be a small reduction.
Despite the slightly depressing tone of this message, we do feel quite pleased with the master plan and the effort Peel seem to be putting in to turn our airport around. Hopefully in next years New Year message, I'll be writing in a much more positive tone!
Happy New Year from the DTV Movements team!