Two former presidents of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce have stepped into the controversy over Dundee Airport after the present postholder questioned the case for its existence.
Gary Langlands, the body’s founding president, accused Tim Allan of being “misguided and irresponsible” over his personal opinion that the economic interests of Dundee would be better served by having better rail links with Edinburgh Airport.
Edinburgh offers more and cheaper flights to London’s airports than the twice daily service between Dundee and Stansted, subsidised with £3 million of public funds, which is still receiving low public interest.
Mr Allan said: “We should stop being parochial and obsessing about the importance of having an airport in Dundee when the reality is that it does not offer a good service and I think never will.”
Mr Langlands was surprised and disappointed at Mr Allan’s comments, given the chamber’s policy to represent all businesses and promote the economic environment for all.
Studies have shown, he said, that airport links are critical to an area’s economic development.
Stansted was not perfect and he supported Mr Allan in calling for better rail links to Edinburgh, but not at the expense of Dundee Airport.
Stansted was a hub for up to 100 destinations which are important from a business exporting perspective, Mr Langlands said, and Dundee Airport is also a base for the Tayside Aviation pilot training school.
Mr Langlands said the smaller aircraft that use Dundee Airport are more expensive to run than bigger aircraft so the ticket price will never match Easyjet from Edinburgh.
He continued: “When an executive’s time is costed in to the three-hour round trip from Dundee to Edinburgh departure gate, Mr Allan may find there are little savings to be made.”
He believed Mr Allan’s case for Edinburgh was motived by his residence in Clackmannanshire offering quicker travel to Edinburgh Airport.
He called on Mr Allan to remember that the chamber president “has a duty of care to the wider business community to be responsible in his public opinions”.
Jim Pickett, who succeeded Mr Langlands as chamber president, took a different view and called on Flybe-Loganair to do more to promote scheduled air travel from Dundee to help the airport and promote the area’s economic development.
He suggested routes to the major business centres of Manchester and Birmingham, which a spokesman for Flybe franchise partner Loganair played down saying: “We are focused on the current Dundee to Stansted service and have no plans to introduce new routes.”
Mr Pickett said: “Manchester and Birmingham are places which business people here travel to regularly, and Manchester is also a major air hub for onward foreign destinations.
“Flybe already have staff based in these airports as they fly to them from Edinburgh and Glasgow. Given that Flybe also have a presence at Dundee, why can’t they at least look into starting flights to these cities?”