THE right to operate certain air services from a designated airport is handed out by central government through an agency.

Unfortunately for Durham Tees Valley, operators are awarded licences but then are allowed to keep them even if they do not operate the route. This effectively stops competitors stepping in and providing the service instead.

Does Durham Tees Valley have a flight to Belfast these days? I recently travelled to Belfast from Newcastle by air and the service was full. If our new Tees Valley mayor is going to revive the fortunes of the airport, as an airport, he needs to start by looking for someone who will run a service to Belfast, preferably George Best Airport rather than Aldergrove, aka Belfast International Airport, from Durham Tees Valley.

Nigel Boddy, Darlington