As plans for a major £80 million airport at the former RAF base at Finningley, near Doncaster, are reaching fruition, Leeds-Bradford International Airport has been left to calculate what impact a new player could have on the successful businesses it has striven to build over the years. Reporter Ian Midgley investigates.

FEARS FOR Leeds-Bradford Airport have arisen because the proposed Finningley development would offer flights to the Caribbean, the Far East, the United States and Europe.

Yet in January, transatlantic flights to Canada from Leeds-Bradford were cancelled after a slump in passenger numbers.

Fuel has been added to the fire because the proposed new airport is only an hour's drive from the heart of Leeds-Bradford's catchment area.

The chairman of Leeds-Bradford, Councillor Tony Cairns (Lab, Tong), has called for a public inquiry into Finningley Airport, saying Yorkshire is more than adequately covered by its existing airports. He said: "We need to be convinced of the need for another airport in the area. I don't think there's the spare capacity at the moment that means we need one.

"The airports in the area could expand, and are expanding, to take care of passengers.

"The need for another airport needs to be established with a public inquiry and that's why we have requested one."

Leeds-Bradford's managing director Ed Anderson has backed his chairman, saying the only thing Yorkshire lacks is the number of airline services and that Yeadon airport will expand to meet that demand in the coming years.

He said: "I can understand the people promoting Finningley are doing so because they're interested in economic regeneration for South Yorkshire. But the simple economics of the aviation industry are against them.

"There are no shortage of airports in Yorkshire. What there is a shortage of at the moment is airline services and I believe Leeds-Bradford offers the best prospect of attracting those services to Yorkshire. We are talking to a number of operators about different routes at the moment."

But he added: "Hardly any of our passengers come from South Yorkshire and that's why we don't see Finningley as a major threat.

"In fact 80 per cent of our customers were from the Leeds and Bradford area last year. Finningley will only serve South Yorkshire - it's not going to be a major international airport for all Yorkshire. People from South Yorkshire tend to use Manchester or East Midlands."

Mr Anderson said the strength of Leeds-Bradford was its catchment area, which would always enable it to attract more passengers and thus more services from flight operators than Finningley would.

"For example, 37,000 Yeadon passengers fly to Copenhagen. Of those 37,000 only 7,000 come from South Yorkshire. Most of them come from West and North Yorkshire.

"That's why we have a much better chance of attracting a service like that than Finningley has, irrespective of how long their runway is. The runway we have is just as good.

"What this Finningley debate has highlighted is the number of passengers who are flying out of Manchester. Two million charter passengers flying out of Manchester originate from Yorkshire and one million scheduled passengers fly out of Manchester. The challenge is how we can get more of these people to fly from Leeds-Bradford.

"The reason we don't have those services here at the moment is simply down to economics. Airlines are very cautious about establishing new services because it's a very expensive business.

"But now I think there's a good prospect of getting a few new routes here. It's not a question of whether Finningley goes ahead or not."

And Mr Anderson said that with the huge investment poured into Yeadon airport's infrastructure in recent years, Leeds-Bradford was definitely on the way up.

"The terminal building has been doubled in size and that project will be finished soon at a cost of £10 million.

"That gives us a capacity of 2.5 million passengers a year where we can currently handle 1.5 million. We have that infrastructure all in place, whereas at Finningley it is not. By October we will be able to handle a million more passengers a year.

"I think we will get to two million passengers a year in the next three years. That will directly benefit Bradford's economy and as that gets stronger the airport will benefit. They feed off each other."

Neil Pakey, commercial director of the company bidding to develop Doncaster - Peel Holdings - says he believes Finningley could happily coexist with Leeds-Bradford.

He said: "It's a 70 to 75 minute drive from Finningley to Leeds-Bradford so I don't see us being a direct rival.

"Airtours made it very clear to us from an operator's point of view that they thought Leeds Bradford had a catchment area down as far as Huddersfield, while we go up to the south of Huddersfield. They believe that they are two very distinct catchment areas. So I don't think they have any cause for worry. There's a great potential for the two airports to work together for mutual benefit in our own catchment areas. I really think that together Leeds-Bradford and Finningley can put Yorkshire on the map.

"It's all about giving Yorkshire people the ability to fly directly from Yorkshire.

"Airtours confirmed that they wish to grow Leeds-Bradford in the north and the west of Yorkshire and Finningley to the south and south west. Their only other option is to continue to operate the bulk of their flights from other regions, thus taking flights and jobs out of Yorkshire."

But Bradford's Coun Cairns has also warned of Doncaster becoming a subsidised airport that could offer cut- price flights to help it compete against airports like Leeds Bradford.

He said: "Peel Holdings are wealthy enough to have a subsidised airport to get it going. If the prices are artificially low then it would be a real threat.

"We could end up in a price war. This is a municipal airport and it hasn't got such deep pockets as Peel Holdings to fight such a war.

"But if we're on a level playing field, I think Leeds-Bradford can compete with anyone.

"Over the last six or seven years we have invested around £22 million to make this the region's airport."

Bill McGrorty, director of aviation at Airtours Holidays, has backed the Doncaster developers' claims that Finningley airport will not affect business at Leeds Bradford.

He said "Both Leeds-Bradford and Humberside Airports serve their immediate catchment areas and will continue to develop those markets. Finningley has the capability of serving the South Yorkshire market, which presently travels across the Pennines or south to Birmingham or beyond for their flights." Mr McGrorty also confirmed that there are no plans to reduce the number of services at Leeds-Bradford as a direct result of the proposed Doncaster Airport.

The importance of a successful airport to a region's economy was highlighted this week by John Prescott, Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions, speaking to a meeting of the Airport Operators Association.

He said "Airports are more than just travelling from A to B. They are centres of integrated transport, they are a key to the economic success of our regions and they are vital to our national economy.

"The simple truth is that in today's worldwide economy, if you want to be a global player you have to have good air links."

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