AN airline has reinforced its commitment to a regional airport by announcing plans to introduce larger aircraft on the route.

The announcement by KLM comes only six weeks after the airline’s UK chief pledged the three daily flights it runs from Durham Tees Valley to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport would be retained.

It means that from now until March there will be more than 7,000 extra seats available on the service to Schiphol, which is one of Europe’s most important international hubs.

Durham Tees Valley’s marketing and communications manager Emma Ormerod said it was good news for the local business community, which accounts for 55 per cent of passengers on the flights.

She said: “KLM is putting on a larger 103-seat aircraft on the first flight from Durham Tees Valley in the morning and on the evening return flight from Amsterdam.

“These are especially important for business travellers who represent well over half of passengers using the KLM service.

“I think the decision by the airline should be seen as a real vote of confidence not just in the airport but in the local economy as a whole, especially those businesses in sectors such as petrochemicals and engineering who really do compete in a global market and need fast and effective links to international air services.”

The route is important for the processing sector on Teesside and Andy Hurst, managing director of industrial technology specialist Tracerco welcomed the increased capacity.

He said: “This is excellent news for our business, both at home and abroad.

“Durham Tees Valley Airport is used regularly by the team and the increased capacity on the service will be a real benefit to the business community.

“As a global company, with a local service culture, efficient and smooth access to our key markets is crucial to not only maintain strong relationships with our clients and staff worldwide, but also to reach projects quickly as we are often required to provide an emergency response to our clients’ continuous process operations anywhere in the world.”

Christine Ourmieres, UK general manager of Air France KLM, visited Durham Tees Valley, which KLM has served for 20 years, in September.

She said: “We are keeping the same number of services we have presently on the route. It is a success. In Teesside, we are talking about a loyalty for 20 years and we are very proud of that.”

Ms Ourmieres believed business passengers welcomed the fact that the service offered fast links to connecting flights from Amsterdam.

Destinations most popular with passengers flying with KLM from Durham Tees Valley include Bangkok, Houston, Johannesburg, Zurich and Oslo.

It is good news in a mixed year for the airport which has recently seen KLM and Ryanair pledge their allegiance.

But it has been hit by rising fuel prices and the credit crunch with holiday company Thomson cancelling its route to Alicante next year and Hungarian carrier Wizz Air cancelling flights to Warsaw.