AIRPORT bosses and politicians last night called on the Prime Minister to keep his promise on airport taxes, or place 1,000 North-East jobs in jeopardy.

Bosses at Durham Tees Valley and Newcastle International airports had their fingers crossed that yesterday’s Autumn Statement would hand regional airports the same controls over Air Passenger Duty (APD), which generates about £2bn for the Exchequer, that have been promised to Scotland.

Last week, the body recommending the details of Scotland’s devolution settlement said Holyrood should be given authority to set or even abolish APD. The move will give the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow airports a crucial advantage over their North-East rivals – allowing them to set lower fares and tempt passengers and flights north of the border.

Dave Laws, Newcastle Airport chief executive is very concerned about the proposals, which he predicts will mean 1,000 fewer new jobs being created across the North-East and the loss of £400m to the regional economy by 2025.

George Osborne used his mini budget to announce the abolition of APD for children under 12 from next May, and pledged to axe it for children under 16 from May 2016. But he fell short of introducing measures that will help North-East airports to compete with Scotland.

After the Autumn Statement The Chancellor responded to a question from Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson by agreeing to cross party talks on APD. Mr Wilson hopes it could lead to the levy being set at different rates across the UK - with North-East airports paying lower rates than the likes of Heathrow and Gatwick.

A Newcastle Airport spokesman said: “We have always said that APD is a regressive tax that harms the UK economy and penalises hard working people. We therefore welcome the announcement today from the Chancellor that child APD is to be abolished. That said, this change will not address our concerns regarding the proposed devolution of APD to Scotland.

“The Prime Minister stated on September 19 that the devolution settlement had to be fair to the people of the rest of the UK. We believe and understand what the Prime Minister said and now we would ask him to honour that commitment. As airlines are now planning for as far ahead as 2016, an early commitment needs to be made by the Government that reductions in Scotland will be matched in the rest of the UK.”

In the meantime, Roy Rickhuss, General Secretary of Community trade union, criticised Mr Osborne for failing to support British workers.

Having written to the Chancellor last week asking him to bring forward a support package for energy intensive industries, such as Teesside’s steel and chemicals sectors, Mr Rickhuss expressed deep dismay at Mr Osborne's failure to deliver this support.

He said: "The Autumn Statement will do very little to help raise our members living standards. The Conservative's plan to eliminate the deficit has failed and their disastrous economic approach has left hard working people worse off.

“As the list of broken promises grows, our members are suffering and British industry has been let down.

"My trade union wants British businesses to succeed in creating good jobs but this government is making that increasingly difficult. For our members, the General Election and a change of government cannot come soon enough."