THE boom in budget flights from the North-East has prompted a training company in the Czech Republic to seek closer links with the region.

Skills Base s.r.o. has become the most distant company to join the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC).

The company is hoping that the lure of affordable travel combined with cost-effective training courses will prove attractive for businesses in this region.

For Peter Crowe, Skills Base managing director, taking up NECC membership marks a re-acquaintance with former colleagues, friends and associates in the business community.

Mr Crowe was one of a number of people to play a formative role in NECC's creation, with the merger of the region's three area chambers.

As chief executive of the Teesside chamber, he worked with counterparts and council members in Tyne and Wear and Tynedale to establish the UK's first regional chamber of commerce.

Mr Crowe said: "We realise the benefits of belonging to an organisation such as the North East Chamber of Commerce and hope that firms within the region will enjoy the opportunity of sending staff to the Czech Republic to enhance their skills."

Mr Crowe, an accountant, joined the Teesside Chamber of Commerce in 1990 and was chief executive until the merger in 1995.

He then worked as a freelance consultant for nine months before he was contracted by Durham University Business School to work with business support organisations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

He returned to the UK in 1998 to run a company providing executive career management and development programmes.

Mr Crowe returned to Prague in 2002 and set up Skills Base to provide training and staff motivation programmes for international and local companies.

He said: "With all the low-cost airlines flying in and out of the region's airports, it has opened up enormous opportunities.

"EasyJet, bmibaby and Jet2 all fly in to Prague, which allows firms to get their staff to courses at a fraction of the price."