Durham Tees Valley Airport to reveal future blueprint
Bosses at Durham Tees Valley Airport are to open a consultation on a blueprint for the site's future.
The airport, which has twice failed to secure government funding for its expansion, has now bought land it says could be used for "engineering, storage and distribution operations".
Owner Peel Holdings said the proposals would safeguard the airport's flights to Schiphol, Holland, and Aberdeen.
Stockton South MP James Wharton said he had some concerns about the plans.
"This must not become an excuse to transition it being an industrial estate that happens to have a runway," the Conservative MP said.
"I want to see a focus on getting new routes and destinations. A few years ago we had nearly a million people going through that airport every year. That's declined to just over a tenth of that."
Airport strategic planning director Peter Nears said the purchase of land was "significant".
He said: "Very few airports, even the largest, can survive alone from passenger traffic revenue and in the case of smaller airports such as Durham Tees Valley it is essential that they create diverse income streams."
A fire training centre and an aircraft recycling business are among those based at the airport.
Peel twice made unsuccessful applications to the government's regional growth fund.