Around 85% of the Airport's flights are for holidays, weekend/city breaks, visiting family and friends and the like. Business use fell off a cliff a long time ago.
Data from the government's own Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals a stark picture of the damage UK airports are doing to the UK economy.
In 2025 the "tourism deficit" in the North East (the difference between the money spent abroad by UK residents versus spending by visitors to the UK) was around £1.6 billion.
The net UK 2025 tourism deficit was £53 billion. That's £53 billion lost to the UK in a single year.
That's a huge hole in our economy.
What's the damage?
This massive loss of spend in the local and UK economy is a major local and national issue. It negatively affects job creation and business sustainability
The same ONS data shows that 88% of UK residents travelling abroad did so by air. Most leisure journeys abroad were by air.
Aviation owns almost all the problem around this source of damage to the UK and regional economies.
Most of the flights are made by a sub-group of frequent flyers who make multiple leisure trips abroad each year.