Civil Aviation Bill

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. Transparency is very important when it comes to the sale and I know that the board is meeting every week at the moment to ensure that everything is out in the open. It is vital that whoever takes over the airport ensures it is there for the benefit of all the region, not just the shareholders. Five or six years ago, approximately 900,000 passengers a year used the airport, but that figure is now down to 180,000 or 190,000. The largest part of those passenger numbers comes from the KLM flights between Durham Tees Valley and Schiphol. It is important that in the sale of the airport we ensure we get someone who will invest in the facility. The airport has a proud history. It was originally known as Goosepool airport and then as RAF Middleton St George, and it was an RAF Bomber Command station during world war two. The airfield began its life as Royal Air Force Station Goosepool and in 1941 became RAF Middleton St George. The aerodrome opened as a Bomber Command station in that same year and, after the war, it served various squadrons. In 1964 it was sold and became Teesside International airport and, in 2004, it became Durham Tees Valley airport. I understand that there are several prospective buyers for the facility at Durham Tees Valley, and I want to make sure that, whatever happens, it remains a commercial airport. If that is not to be the case, I want to make sure that it still has an aviation purpose for the north-east, whether as a general aviation facility, a cargo facility or a commercial operation. It is vital that there is a future for some kind of aviation in the Tees valley in whatever guise, because the business is needed—as I have said, it is a massive industrial complex—the tourism is needed, and investment in the facility by whoever buys it is needed. I want to see an aviation future for Durham Tees Valley because connectivity is very important to an area with such a huge and internationally important industrial base. It is important to keep a commercial airport, but there is also a great need for the wider aviation facility. There has been criticism of the airport in the local press, but now is not the time for criticising Durham Tees Valley—we should be supporting its sale. I want the airport to have a viable aviation future that will benefit the whole region, as it is an important economic asset. The time for criticism, celebration or both is after the sale period, which I understand will be in the next week or so. In the spirit of the cross-party consensus this Bill has secured, I hope that the cross-party consensus among Tees valley MPs will also continue. Finally, I should like to ask a question about the Bill. I understand that some of the inspections that the CAA currently undertakes will continue but that their cost will be transferred to regional airports and ultimately, I should think, to the customer. To avoid placing unnecessary burdens on regional airports and customers, will the Minister look at this issue again and let us know in today's debate whether that is case? In an age in which greater connectivity and globalisation are bringing the world closer together, regional airports and the regions they serve deserve to be part of that economic growth, connectivity and globalisation and the economic wealth they can bring.